Normal values of cerebrovascular reserve capacity after stimulation with acetazolamide measured by xenon 133 single-photon emission CT.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a standardized stimulation challenge with acetazolamide will be helpful for assessing the vasodilatory capacity in patients with obstructive cerebrovascular disease.


METHODS
To establish normative data of the cerebrovascular reserve capacity, a group of 41 control patients was investigated. The regional cerebral blood flow was measured quantitatively before and after stimulation with acetazolamide using the xenon 133 inhalation method and dynamic single-photon emission CT.


RESULTS
A significant increase of regional cerebral blood flow was found after administration of 1 g of acetazolamide. By doubling the dose no significant further increase was measured. We found no correlation of either baseline or stimulated flow values with age. However, a linear dependence between the stimulated flow values and their respective baseline values was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
The standardized challenge with acetazolamide seems to be a reliable method to determine cerebrovascular reserve capacity quantitatively.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Munich, Germany.
G
G
Leinsinger
A
A
Piepgras
K
K
Einhäupl
P
P
Schmiedek
C M
CM
Kirsch
D000086:Acetazolamide; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000187:drug effects; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects*; D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes
D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes; D000086:Acetazolamide