Regional cerebral perfusion imaging in the elderly.

Tomographic emission scintigraphy of the brain using a stationary gamma-camera and rotating slant hole collimator, following intravenous injection of 123I-n-isopropyl p-iodoamphetamine, yields high quality images of regional cerebral blood flow. The technique has been used on 20 geriatric patients and is non-invasive, well-tolerated, and hitherto only associated with trivial adverse effects. It appears to be particularly useful in supporting a clinical diagnosis of multi-infarct disease but the demonstration of zones of underperfused but not necessarily infarcted cerebral tissue may well have wider research implications.