Cerebral blood flow measurement with iodine-123-IMP SPECT, calibrated standard input function and venous blood...

We previously reported simple methods for measuring cerebral blood flow (CBF) with 123l-labeled N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine (IMP) and SPECT: table look-up method and autoradiography. With these methods, the arterial input function is obtained by calibrating the standard input function using one-point arterial blood sampling 10 min after IMP infusion. In this study, we sought to determine if these approaches can be as successful when used with venous blood sampling.

After IMP infusion, simultaneous arterial and venous blood samples were drawn from 30 subjects without heart or lung disease.

The activity ratios of venous whole blood from the cubital vein to arterial blood were 0.75 +/- 0.09, 0.77 +/- 0.10, 0.78 +/- 0.03 and 0.83 +/- 0.11, respectively, at 10, 20, 30 and 50 min after IMP infusion. Venous blood activities were always 20% lower than the artery values over 50 min. When blood was sampled from the dorsal hand vein, however, the respective ratios were 0.92 +/- 0.03, 0.93 +/- 0.05, 0.97 +/- 0.04 and 0.98 +/- 0.08 after 10, 20, 30 and 50 min. Furthermore, when the palm was exposed to heat during the sampling period, blood activity levels increased to 0.92 +/- 0.04, 0.96 +/- 0.04, 0.99 +/- 0.05 and 0.98 +/- 0.03. Thus, venous blood activities were consistent with arterial activity, presumably because of the numerous arteriovenous anastomoses in the palm. Optimal times for venous blood sampling, with and without palm heating, were determined by error analysis to be 15 and 20 min, respectively, after IMP infusion.

Venous blood sampling from the dorsal hand can be substituted for arterial blood sampling in IMP-CBF studies.