Cerebral scintigraphy--the phoenix rises again.

This paper reviews the development of cerebral scintigraphy from its early days of planar imaging with simple technetium-99m labelled compounds to the recent revival of the technique in the form of positron-emission and single-photon emission tomography. A short explanation of instrumentation and radiopharmaceuticals is given as a prelude to a description of both techniques in normal and pathological situations. Particular emphasis is placed on the more readily-available single-photon emission-tomographic techniques using labelled amines in the functional investigation of disorders not readily diagnosed by computed tomography.