Orthostatic intolerance in 6 degrees head-down tilt and lower body negative pressure loading

Abstract

6 degrees head-down tilt bed rest experiment for 6 days was conducted at Nihon University Itabashi Hospital for 10 male athletes. In order to observe the orthostatic intolerance due to six days head-down tilt bed rest, 70 degrees head up tilt tests were performed before and after the head-down tilt. Two types of orthostatic intolerance were distinguished by the time course of their cardiovascular responses. One was vagotonia type and the other was brain anemia type. The latter type was commonly seen among astronauts after space flight due to the lack of plasma volume. As this volume change is considered to be initiated by some fluid loss from the lower extremities, analysis was made to clarify the relation between the leg volume change and the types of orthostatic intolerance. Nakayama proposed a Heart Rate Controllability Index, which is calculated from the initiate leg volume change and heart rate increase in head up tilt, for an indicator of the orthostatic intolerability. The index was applied to the subjects of six days head-down tilt above mentioned. For the subjects who showed a sign of presyncopy, the index values were higher or lower than that of the rest subjects who showed no sign of presyncopy. In order to evaluate the validity of the index, another experiment was conducted to induce an orthostatic intolerance by a different way of loading. The same types of orthostatic intolerance were observed and the index value hit high in the brain anemia type of orthostatic intolerance, while the vagotonia type showed relatively lower values than the normal group.