Measurement of cerebral blood flow by washout of microwave induced heating.

A method is described for measurement of cerebral blood flow utilizing the washout of microwave delivered heating. Using a microwave source attenuated to achieve a brain temperature elevation of 0.5-0.75 degrees C after a 2 second exposure in the rat, cerebral blood flow was calculated from the temperature washout curve monitored by a small thermistor implanted in the brain. The results obtained with this method were comparable to those obtained using the [14C] butanol method. To our knowledge this represents the first description of a method to deliver a blood flow "indicator" atraumatically directly into brain tissue.