Noninvasive arterial monitor for quantitative oxygen-15-water blood flow studies

A noninvasive monitor has been developed for monitoring arterial radioactivity in quantitative PET studies of blood flow. The significance of this probe is that quantitative blood flow studies can be performed without the use of arterial catheterization. The method employed is based on the flux of photons emanating from the superior lobe of the right lung following an intravenous bolus of H2(15)O. Calibration of the monitor is obtained by measuring the relationship between lung monitor counts and arterial radioactivity after arterial and venous radioactivity levels have equilibrated following inhalation of C15O. To determine the accuracy of the lung probe as a measure of arterial radioactivity, 44 brain blood flow determinations were made in 11 volunteers using arterial radioactivity measures based both on the lung probe and continuous sampling from a radial artery. Repeated measures analysis of variance found no differences between invasive and noninvasive estimates of blood flow. These results suggest that the lung monitor enables quantitation of cerebral blood flow yet avoids the trauma of an arterial puncture.