Clinical experience with the use of xenon-enhanced CT blood flow mapping in cerebral vascular disease.

Cerebral blood flow mapping with the xenon-enhanced/CT method has become a useful clinical tool in the management of patients with occlusive cerebral vascular disease. Studies involving 4-5 minutes of inhaling a xenon/oxygen mixture (less than or equal to 35%) can now be performed routinely with acceptable patient tolerance and compliance. Four cases with acute and chronic ischemic injuries are reported here to illustrate the manner in which this method has been used to characterize flow pattern in such patients and the relevance of this flow information to clinical patient management.