Changes in the radioisotope cisternogram in cerebrovascular-occlusive disease.

Radioisotopes have been used in the study of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) since Sweet and Locksley (7) first used 131I-albumin to determine the forma tion, flow, and reabsorption of CSF in man. Since that time, cisternographic techniques using radionuclides have been used to evaluate CSF dynamics in conditions ranging from the detection of CSF rhinorrhea (2) to communicating hydrocephalus (3). Recent work has shown that abnormalities in the flow of CSF occur following subarachnoid hem orrhage (4). These usually take the form of dimin ished movement of 131I-albumin around the cerebral hemispheres and, in some cases, the occurrence of a communicating low-pressure hydrocephalus. The eti ology of the diminution in flow following the subarachnoid hemorrhage has not been well studied although one might suspect it to be due to adhesions from an accompanying arachnoiditis. The purpose of this paper is to further (5) describe changes seen on the radioisotope cisternogram following an acute cerebrovascular occlusive (CVA) episode.