Studies on cerebral blood flow and oxygen metabolism in patients with established cerebral infarcts undergoing omental transposition.

Regional cerebral blood flow, blood volume, fractional oxygen extraction, and oxygen consumption were measured by positron emission tomography in 4 stroke patients prior to and 6 months following omental transposition surgery. Preoperatively, 3 patients showed the typical picture of established infarction with a matched reduction in flow and oxygen metabolism and a normal oxygen extraction fraction in the symptomatic hemisphere. One patient showed a chronically impaired perfusion reserve with a proportionally greater reduction in flow than oxygen metabolism and a compensatory rise in oxygen extraction ratio. No change in the physiological parameters was demonstrated in the postoperative studies.