Appelt Eric A, Song Won S, Phillips William T, Metter Darlene F, Salman Umber A, Blumhardt Ralph
Department of Radiology, UT Health Sciences Center, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA.
Clin Nucl Med. 2008 Jan;33(1):55-7. doi: 10.1097/RLU.0b013e31815c4fbf.
Nuclear scintigraphy has been used in patients with brain death since the 1970s. Many studies report a "hot nose" sign as predictive of brain death and lack of cerebral flow. Current nuclear medicine textbooks state that increased flow to the nose occurs secondary to occlusion of the internal carotid artery with flow rerouted to the nose via the external carotid artery. This explanation has been provided for decades assuming that the blood flow is actually increased to the nose. We performed a study to determine whether flow is really seen in the nose when a hot nose sign is present.
