Local cerebral blood flow measured by xenon-enhanced CT during cryogenic brain edema and intracranial hypertension in monkeys.

We developed a closed-skull model of freeze injury-induced brain edema, a model classically thought to produce vasogenic edema, and observed the natural course of changes in edema and blood flow using xenon-enhanced computed tomography (CT) in five rhesus monkeys before and for up to 6 h post insult. Intracranial pressure (ICP) gradually rose throughout the duration of the experiment. CT scans and CBF images permitted direct observation of the evolution of the lesion and revealed early ischemia in the periphery of the injury zone that progressed over time in association with edema. Frequency histogram analysis of local CBF (ICBF) demonstrated subtle but potentially important changes in distribution of ICBF between and within hemispheres at various times post insult. Changes in ICBF distribution were phasic and dissociated from increases in ICP in the latter stages of injury. The Xe/CT CBF method can be used to evaluate the effects of injury and therapy on CBF in this and other models of acute brain injury.