Elimination of scalp blood flow by headband during dynamic brain scintigraphy

The effect of the application of a headband during brain scintigraphy was investigated in 11 healthy volunteers. In each person, extracranial recording of a bolus of 99mTc-pertechnetate injected intravenously was done on two occasions during a scintillation camera. On one occasion a narrow sphygmomanometer cuff encircling the head from brow to occiput and inflated to 300 mmHg was applied during measurements; another time, the procedure was identical except for the headband. A comparison between counting rates under the derived time-activity curves showed significantly lower values on headband application (p less than 0.01). Static scintigrams consisting of the first 300,000 counts recorded after bolus release with and without headband application show a clear delineation of the headband position with prevention of "halo" appearance about the cranial cavity. It has thus been possible by simple means to reduce the irrelevant radionuclide distribution which, especially during dynamic investigations of cerebral circulation, constitutes a source of error.