Measurement of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) using Xe-133 inhalation and its clinical application

The measurment of rCBF was performed in 128 cases using JNX-85 Type rCBF Analyzer. Average normal values of gray matter in 32 cerebral regions were determined from 79 volunteers. No significant difference was found between males and females, left and right cerebral hemisphere, but there is a tendency of decreasing with ages. Clinically, the positivity of rCBF in acute cerebral infarction was 14/15 (cases) but that of X-CT 11/15 (cases). In convalescent stage. the positivity was 6/9 (cases) in rCBF, but 8/9 (cases) in X-CT. The rCBF was improved with time, but the pathological lesion still existed in X-CT film. This explained why the positivity of X-CT was greater than that of rCBF determination in convalescent stage. In conclusion, the rCBF measurement with colored image display is a useful diagnostic tool for clinicians. It is an accurate, convenient, reliable and noninvasive dignostic method, and can be used for the investigation of brain physiology and pathophysiology. It also has a great practical value for the prognosis and therapeutic monitoring of cerebral vascular diseases