A Journal of Cerebral Circulation JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1984VOL. IS NO. 1 EDITORIAL Of Cerebral Blood Flow, Stroke and SPECT

applications in stroke disease of a technique for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) that uses N-isopropyl-(I-123)-p-iodoamphetamine (I23IMP) as a cerebral blood flow tracer agent.1 Although cerebral blood flow (CBF) is a basic biological proc-ess, historically the clinical significance of disturbed patterns and measured values of flow has confounded medical investigators. The quest for more clinically meaningful flow information provides an impor-tant rationale for the development of SPECT CBF techniques. Kety and Schmidt made the first quantitative meas-urements of brain blood flow, in the 1940's, at the University of Pennsylvania, using the nitrous oxide technique to determine mean hemispheric blood flo