Measurement of local cerebral blood flow and metabolism in man with positron emission tomography.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a computer based, nuclear medicine imaging technique that permits the quantitative, in vivo measurement of local tissue concentration or radiopharmaceuticals labeled with positron-emitting radionuclides (i.e., 15O, 13N, 11C, and 18F). These measurements can be made through any desired section of the human brain thus creating, in effect, a quantitative in vivo autoradiogram. Combining this imaging technique with appropriate radiopharmaceuticals and mathematical models for the interpretation of tracer behavior permits the safe measurement of local blood flow and metabolism in humans.