Physiologic changes in regional cerebral blood flow defined by xenon-enhanced CT scanning.

With adequate concentrations of commercially available nonradioactive xenon an enhancement of brain substance was readily demonstrated by computed tomography (CT). By performing successive CT scans at a fixed brain level following xenon inhalation, the partition coefficient and clearance of xenon as well as the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) could be calculated. The expected physiologic alterations in rCBF with acute cerebral infarction and changes in arterial CO2 were accurately defined by xenon-enhanced CT scanning affirming the potential future applications of this technique.