The double isotope technique for in vivo determination of the tissue-to-blood partition coefficient for xenon in human subcutaneous adipose tissue--an evaluation.

Local subcutaneous 133xenon (133Xe) elimination was registered in the human forefoot in 34 patients. The tissue/blood partition coefficient for Xe was estimated individually by simultaneous registration of 133Xe and [131I]antipyrine ([131I]AP) washout from the same local depot. When measured in this way, an average partition coefficient for Xe was found to be 4.3 +/- 1.23 ml g-1. This value is significantly lower than the partition coefficient found in a previous in vitro study in which a Xe partition coefficient of 7.5 +/- 1.57 ml g-1 was found. Thus, if the local blood flow is calculated using the partition coefficient found by the double isotope technique, significantly lower values are obtained than if the in vitro determined coefficient is used. This difference is explained mainly by local dilution when injecting xenon subcutaneously. In short-term studies, utilization of the double isotope technique reduces the coefficient of variation on average flow determinations, thus an improvement in accuracy of local blood flow estimation can be obtained compared to the method in which an average partition coefficient is used. For long-term studies a partition coefficient of 7.5 ml g-1 seems valid.