Cerebral Blood Flow Determination Within the First 8 Hours of Cerebral Infarction Using Stable Xenon-Enhanced Computed Tomography

Cerebral blood flow mapping with stable xenon-enhanced computed tomography (Xe/CT) was performed in conjunction with conventional computed tomography (CT) within the first 8 hours after the onset of symptoms in seven patients with cerebral infarction. Six patients had hemispheric infarctions, and one had a progressive brainstem infarction. Three patients with very low (<10 ml/100 g/min) blood flow in an anatomic area appropriate for the neurologic deficit had no clinical improvement by the time of discharge from the hospital; follow-up CT scans of these three patients confirmed infarction hi the area of very low blood flow. Three patients with moderate blood flow reductions (15-45 ml/100 g/min) in the appropriate anatomic area had significant clinical improvement from their initial deficits and had normal follow-up CT scans. One patient studied 8 hours after stroke had increased blood flow (hyperemia) in the appropriate anatomic area and made no clinical recovery. (Stroke 1989;20:754-760) Computed tomography (CT) of the head char-acteristically is normal during the first fewhours after cerebral infarction, when deci-sions about therapy must be made. The role of CT during this period has been to exclude hemorrhage or other mass lesion as the cause of the clinica