ATRAUMATIC QUANTITATION OF CEREBRAL PERFUSION IN CATS BY F-19 MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

We have noninvasively produced low‐resolution, quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance images of cerebral blood flow in 2‐ml voxels in eight cats. Typical signal‐to‐noise of 4 to 1 was obtained in cerebral voxels in 16.5‐s epochs. Mean flow during normocapnia (paCO2 = 39 ± 4 mm Hg) and hypercapnia (paCO2 = 62 ± 4 mm Hg) was 53 ± 20 ml/100 gmin and 140 ± 36 ml/100 g‐min, respectively. Fast flows in normocapnia were 94 ± 13 and 182 ± 39 ml/100 g‐min in hypercapnia. These results suggest that an atraumatic quantitative imaging assessment of cerebral perfusion may be possible in humans using these techniques.© 1992 Academic Press,Inc. Copyright © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company