[Measurement of cerebral blood flow by thermal diffusion using a flow probe with a Peltier stack]

In order to evaluate the blood flow by means of thermal diffusion, relationship between blood flow and parameters induced by thermal diffusion was investigated. Flow probe employed for measurement by thermal diffusion incorporated a Peltier stack which contained a small semiconductor and two L-shaped gold plates. These two plates were attached to both sides of the semiconductor by one side of each gold plate and the other side was surfaced with a tissue to be measured. Temperature gradient is created with current applied to the Peltier stack between two plates, one cooled and the other heated, and it is affected only by tissue blood flow. Two kinds of parameters of thermal diffusion were subjected to compare to blood flow. One was temperature gradient when the constant current was applied to the Peltier stack. The other was a current required to maintain a definite temperature gradient which was determined before hand. From the theoretical principle in thermodynamics, the correlations between blood flow and each of thermal diffusion parameters were defined by the following equations: (Formula: see text) where F is blood flow, delta V is voltage converted from temperature gradient, and Ci and Cv are constants. Each of phi v and phi i indicates the characteristics of each probe. Experimental study was carried out to confirm the above relationship using cortex of experimental animals. Under the general anesthesia, a cat was placed in prone position. After the craniotomy, dura mater was opened and a small flow probe, 10 mm in diameter, 5 mm in height and 5 g in weight, was placed on the cortex and blood flow was continuously evaluated by two parameters.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)