Determination of regional cerebral cortical blood flow using a heat clearance technique

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Abstract
A heat clearance method is described for measuring regional cerebral cortical blood flow, involving the injection of a small amount of cool saline into the cerebral circulation. Blood flow is estimated from the slope of the subsequent thermal clearance curve, temperature being measured by a small thermistor probe situated under the dura in contact with cerebral cortical tissue. The method is compared with the well established technique involving 85Kr an a correlation coefficient of 0.89 is obtained. The heat clearance technique, however, has the added advantages that the cost of tracer and monitoring equipment is small and that probes may be chronically implanted.