Cerebral blood flow in the pig : a study of Xenon-133 clearance techniques

Cerebrovascular disease is an important cause of death. The number of cerebrovascular complaints is increasing, mainly as a consequence of increasing the mean lifetime. Functioning of the brain is dependent on blood supply. A temporary or prolonged reduction of total or regional cerebral blood flow (c.b.f.) may lead to irreversible damage of cerebral tissue and loss of neurological functions. Therefore the measurement of cerebral blood flow, preferably in different regions, is clinically important. Several methods of measuring c.b.f. have been developed. The applicability of a method in a clinical situation depends on its traumatic aspects. A brief survey of the methods of c.b.f. measurement is given at the end of this chapter. The clinical method used most frequently is the Xe-133 clearance technique. The Xe-133 is administered by three different routes, intra-arterial, intravenous or by inhalation. This thesis mainly deals with the intraarterial injection technique, evaluated on the pig as experimental animal.