Early behaviour of 99mTc-pertechnetate in the head after intravenous bolus injection: its relevance to the cerebral blood circulation.

The relative differences between the behavior of 99mTc-pertechnetate (Tc) and both, non-diffusible and diffusible reference tracers in the head were evaluated by a statistical comparison of their time-activity curves in blood, brain and some tissues underlying the brain, after IV injection in the rat. This study showed that the particular cephalic behaviour of Tc was neither similar to that of diffusible tracers (even with restricted diffusion) nor equivalent to that of a non-diffusible tracer in the whole head. Although Tc is not an intravascular tracer in the entire cephalic volume, it was demonstrated that the initial peak characterizing the dilution of this tracer in the head is exclusively generated by its first passage in the cerebral circulation, even if the blood flow rate is changed. To extract from this initial peak a first dilution curve relevant to the cerebral circulation, Tc kinetics in the head were considered as a two compartmental model. Assuming that the maximum uptake of tracer was reached at the same time in both compartments of this model, the disappearance of Tc from the fast compartment approximates the first dilution curve of Tc in the fast cerebral circulation, if the slope of the Tc disappearance curve from the slow compartment is assimilated to a plateau.