Intracarotid fluorescein angiography: a new method for examination of the epicerebral circulation in man.

Patterns of blood flow were examined in the surface vessels of the surgically exposed brain by intracarotid injection of 1% fluorescein and rapid serial photographs timed by a photo-cell signal. Matching colour filters were used for black and white or Ektachrome film.As developed in cats and monkeys, and applied in five patients during craniotomy, the technique gave a picture of flow patterns in the pial and cortical vascular bed, demonstrating "water-shed" areas bordering major arterial territories, laminar flow in veins, and, in particular, the details of filling and clearing in the fine pial vessels, the superficial cortical capillary bed and in the vascular beds of tumours.Since these features are rendered in finer detail and sharper contrast than by standard x-ray angiography, the method affords a new means of more adequately examining the epicerebral circulation in man during craniotomy for a variety of lesions.