A Simplifiedin vivoAutoradiographic Strategy for the Determination of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow by Positron Emission Tomography: Theoretical Considerations and Validation Studies in the Rat

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Abstract
A simplified mathematical model is described for the measurement of regional cerebral blood flow by positron emission tomography in man, based on a modification of the autoradiographic strategy originally developed for experimental animal studies. A modified ramp intravenous infusion of radiolabeled tracer is used; this results in a monotonically increasing curvilinear arterial activity curve that may be accurately described by a polynomial of low degree (= z). Integrated cranial activity C̄Bis measured in regions of interest during the latter portion of the tracer infusion period (times T1to T2). It is shown that[ ]where each of the terms Axis a readily evaluated function of the blood flow rate constant k, the brain:blood partition coefficient for the tracer, the cranial activity integration limits T1and T2, the coefficients of the polynomial describing the arterial curve, and an iteration factor n that is chosen to yield the desired degree of precision. This relationship permits generation of a table of C̄Bvs. k, thus facilitating on-line computer solution for blood flow. This in vivo autoradiographic paradigm was validated in a series of rats by comparing it to the classical autoradiographic strategy developed by Kety and associates. Excellent agreement was demonstrated between blood flow values obtained by the two methods: CBFin vivo= CBFclassicalX 0.99 − 0.02 (units in ml g−1min−1; correlation coefficient r = 0.966).

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