| Abstract: | Cerebral autoregulation is the mechanism which controls blood flow to the brain despite variations in blood pressure. Although important this mechanism is currently not well understood, with autoregulatory failure difficult to diagnose. In this paper we develop a simple model based upon those measurements available in the clinical setting. The model can replicate previous results and is used to investigate a variety of hypothetical autoregulatory responses. Furthermore the model has been extended by including the autoregulatory vessels themselves to explain the observed influence of increased carbon dioxide levels in the blood. A focus on only those measurements which may be realistically obtained in human patients avoids the need for estimating many unknown parameters or the modelling of complex and poorly understood physiological process necessary in previous, more complicated, models. |
