Studies of vestibular cortical areas with short-living 15O2 isotopes

The oxygen-15 inhalation technique has been applied to the quantification of regional cerebral blood flow and metabolism with positron emission tomography. These findings support the notion that vestibular cortex is not only one small area in the temporal or parietal cortex but a wider area in the temporoparietal cortex. During caloric reactions cortical potential changes were found on the contralateral temporoparietal cortex. The recent development of positron emission tomography (PET) is theoretically capable of changing considerably the research of the pathophysiology in central vestibular disturbances. Validity of the 15O2 inhalation model and the feasibility of the PET technique does have - like any physiological measurement - some limitations, but it obviously has a tremendous clinical potential.