Cerebral blood flow in experimental ischemia assessed by 19F magnetic resonance spectroscopy in cats

We evaluated a 19F magnetic resonance spectroscopic technique that detects Freon-23 washout as a means of measuring cerebral blood flow in halothane-anesthetized adult cats during and after transient cerebral ischemia produced by vascular occlusion. The experiments were performed to test the ability of this recently developed method to detect postischemic flow deficits. Results were consistent with postischemic hypoperfusion. The method also proved valuable for measuring small residual flow during vascular occlusion. Our experiments indicate that this method provides simple, rapid, and repeatable flow measurements that can augment magnetic resonance examinations of cerebral metabolic parameters in the study of ischemia.