Duration of the respiratory periods of uniform respiratory rhythms in 35 patients with neurosurgical diseases.

Analysis of uniform respiratory rhythms in 35 neurosurgical patients showed that the mean duration of respiratory periods was between 8.60 and 71.51 seconds. The scatter around the mean value increases with the increase of the duration of the respiratory period. For an individual patient there is a one-peak distribution of the duration of respiratory periods. The duration of respiratory periods increases with age. There is a group of patients in whom the respiratory periods last over 40 seconds. This group is difficult to classify. There are no correlations between the acid-base values, blood gas values, and the duration of respiratory periods. Analysis of 10 autopsy cases showed lesions in the brain stem without any particular prevalence.