CMRO2 and CBF by the oxygen-15 inhalation technique. Results in normal volunteers and cerebrovascular patients.

The oxygen-15 inhalation technique has been applied to the quantitation of regional CBF, CMRO2 and OER with positron emission tomography. The introduction of corrections for gamma-ray attenuation, and for recirculation, has allowed us to obtain values for CBF, CMRO2 and OER in close agreement with values obtained using other techniques. In 27 normal volunteers mean CMRO2 shows values ranging from 4.98 to 3.79 ml/100/min, depending on the region evaluated. Mean CBF values range from 55.3 to 38.8 ml/100ml/min. Mean OER is more constant, ranging from 0.56 to 0.49, with a mean of 0.53 +/- 0.04, thus reflecting the close matching between metabolism and blood supply. We have further identified corrections for cerebral blood volume, which is measurable, and for water partition coefficient, which remains uncertain. In preliminary studies these corrections decrease the OER over the physiological range of flow by 10%, with a 15% lower CMRO2. The reproducibility of the results and the effects of aging have been studied. A series of 27 studies on acute ischaemic CVD are reported. The course of the clinical condition has been correlated with the quantitation of oxygen utilization and blood flow performed at different intervals from the onset of symptoms.