Assessment of a new non-invasive cerebral blood flow determination method using the brain uptake ratio of 99mTc-ECD

We modified the method of calculating brain uptake ratio (BUR) reported previously, and devised a new non-invasive cerebral blood flow measurements for 99mTc-ECD that does not require blood sampling. This method yields BUR that is not influenced by the gamma camera type and the choice of acquisition-reconstruction conditions, when corrected by the SPECT/Planar cross calibration coefficient. A good correlation was observed between the BUR obtained by this method and the cerebral blood flow (CBF) obtained by the 123I-IMP continuous arterial blood sampling method. And based on these results, it is now possible to convert BUR to CBF. This method is applicable to small field type of gamma cameras, and it is expected to be useful as a routine test.