[Isotope studies of cerebral circulation using the Fucks-Knipping gamma camera: use of a multi-parameter system with an intravenous tracer injection technic]

In order to analyze cerebral blood flow for diagnostic purposes, Indium 113m-DTPA was i.v. injected into seated patients, and time-activity curves were registered by a multifacet gamma camera (Fucks-Knipping) from 8 regions of interest, from the median area and from the right and left side of the head: 3 from the hemisphere, 3 from the brain stem, 2 from the large arteries of the neck. The results from 14 patients with chronic impairment of cerebral blood flow were compared with normal data from 20 healthy individuals. The time activity curves were analyzed for peak-height, mean transit time, and ratio peak to plateau height. The individual parameters were investigated for the degree of their correlation in a multiparameter system. The results from the patients indicated for the different single parameters a non-uniform response. There was also no correlation between the deviation of different parameters, between single pathological parameters and the degree and the site of blood flow impairment. On the other hand, a positive correlation was found between the number of pathological parameters and the degree of blood flow impairment irrespective of the site of its localization. Reason for this result probably is the variable location and degree of blood flow compensation by collaterals, which predominantly are expected at the cerebral base. The data indicate the potential usefulness of the application of the multiparameter analysis to quantitatively detect the degree of impairment of cerebral blood flow without regard to its topography. In this respect, the method, here described, promises to be of clinical value for non-invasive and non-hazardous diagnostic screening of cerebral blood flow.