Evaluation of a new method for measurement of cerebral and other regional circulation times

Journal/Book: Reprinted from THE JOURNAL OF LABORATORY AND CLINICAL MEDICINE St. Louis Vol. 60 No. 3 Pages 478-491 September 1962. 1962;

Abstract: WILLIAM D. LOVE M.D. LAWRENCE P. O'MEALLIE M.D. WILLIAM W. LEMMON M.S. and GEORGE E. BURCH M.D. New Orleans La. From the Departments of Medicine and Electrical Engineering Tulane University Schools of Medicine and Engineering and the Charity Hospital of Louisiana. Aided by grants from the United States Public Health Service the Life Insurance Medical Research Fund and the Rowell A. Billups Fund for Research in Heart Disease. Received for publication Dec. 19 1961. Accepted for publication April 10 1962. A new method for measurement of cerebral circulation time has been successfully tested in studies made in a model and in specially prepared dogs. During the first circulation of a bolus of I131 albumin injected intravenously a radiation monitor placed over the brain records a curve which closely resembles the time course of radioactivity in arterial blood. However the cerebral curve has a lower more rounded peak and a more gradual downslope. It was postulated that the differences in the contours of these 2 curves were quantitatively related to the time required for blood to circulate through the brain i.e. the mean cerebral circulation time. The present studies establish this relationship. Mean cerebral circulation times were measured in dogs by the new method which employs sampling of arterial blood and monitoring of brain radioactivity. At the same time measurements were made using established indicator-dilution principles which require sampling blood at the points of inflow and outflow from the brain. The mean difference in circulation times determined by the 2 methods was 1.4 second or 15 to 17 per cent. If this method proves to be applicable to man circulation times in separate areas of the brain could be compared. Puncturing of the jugular vessels would not be necessary and it is hoped that carotid puncture could also be avoided. ___MH

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