Determination of cerebral death by radionuclide angiography.

A unique appearance was seen in 18 of more than 4,000 radionuclide cerebral angiographic studies performed over a period of 5 years in patients who had cerebral death. Absence of cerebral perfusion was indicated by a lack of intracerebral activity and nondelineation of the sagittal sinus during the first minutes after the appearance of scalp activity. This technique provides a sensitive, unambiguous means of identifying a lack of cerebral perfusion.