Stable xenon CT CBF measurements in prevalent cerebrovascular disorders (stroke).

Local cerebral blood flow (LCBF) and local tissue: blood partition coefficient (L lambda) values were measured for small volumes of gray or white matter by CT CBF. Single compartment analysis was used but fitted to infinity in normal volunteers aged between 20 to 100 years (N = 20). Hemispheric LCBF and L lambda values were compared to those of 61 age matched patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs, N = 10), reversible ischemic neurologic deficits (RINDS, N = 10), acute and chronic cerebral infarctions associated with emboli from atherosclerotic plaques or complete occlusion of internal carotid or middle cerebral arteries (n = 9) or of cardiac origin (N = 3), cerebral hemorrhage (N = 1), multi-infarct dementia (MID) (N = 11) and arteriovenous malformations (AVM) (N = 17). In normal aging, L lambda s were normal, but LCBF showed diffuse age-related declines. Symptomatic cerebrovascular disease was characterized by accentuation of age-related LCBF declines. TIAs with unilateral ICA occlusion showed b...