Psychosomatic Medicine 9:233-241 (1947)
© 1947 American Psychosomatic Society

Studies Concerning the Etiology and Pathogenesis of Neurocirculatory Asthenia

V. The Introduction of a New Test for the Diagnosis and Assessment of the Syndrome

¹ Harold Brunn Institute for Cardiovascular Research, Mount Zion Hospital, San Francisco, California

An especially designed hyperventilation test preceded and followed by maximal breath-holding was described. By means of the breath-holding values thus obtained, a ratio designated as the hyperventilation index (H.I.) was obtained. The normal range of the H.I. was determined.

When the normal individual and the patient suffering from an intrinsic pulmonary or cardiac disorder (but without neurocirculatory asthenia) were given the hyperventilation test, the range of the H.I. obtained in both types of individuals was approximately the same. When the severely dyspneic N.C.A. patient, however, or the patient suffering from both intrinsic cardiorespiratory disease and the N.C.A. syndrome were studied, the H.I. obtained was invariably abnormally low and usually less than unity.

The test and the index obtained from it were presented not only as a positive diagnostic for the detection of severe neurocirculatory asthenia but also as a method for the assessment and differentiation of the part played by the N.C.A. syndrome in the production of cardiorespiratory symptoms in a patient who suffers from both it and organic cardiorespiratory disease.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Leon-Sotomayor The Use of the Valsava-EKG Test for .... Differentiation of Functional from Organic T-Wave Abnormalites Angiology, September 1, 1968; 19(9): 511 - 526. [PDF]