Cerebral Blood Flow: Physiology and Measurement Techniques

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) physiology is important to neurosurgeons who manage patients with cerebrovascular disease. The techniques to measure CBF and mathematical methods to calculate CBF have evolved over the past 50 years. These techniques have been refined to enable perioperative and intraoperative measurement of cerebral blood flow qualitatively and quantitatively. Some of the measurement techniques discussed in this chapter include PET, EEG, TCD, Xenon and thermal fusion.