Diaschisis Resulting From Acute Unilateral Cerebral Infarction

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Abstract
HØEDT-RASMUSSEN and Skinhøj1,2were the first to report bilateral reduction of hemispheric blood flow (HBF) in patients with unilateral cerebral infarction. They measured HBF by means of intracarotid injection of a bolus of radioactive inert gas and an uncollimated detector placed over each hemisphere and found the HBF to be reduced on the "healthy" side as well as in the diseased hemisphere. They did not measure cerebral metabolism but hypothesized that unilateral infarction reduced metabolism, and consequently, resulted in reduced blood flow in the contralateral hemisphere due to transneural depression. There were only six patients with unilateral cerebral infarction in their series, three of whom had thrombosis or embolic occlusion of the internal carotid artery. The smallness of their series was complicated further by the fact that one of the requirements of their method is that the bolus be injected into the internal carotid artery to avoid extracranial