Radionuclide Cerebral Angiography in Diagnosis and Evaluation of Carotid - Cavernous Fistula

The standard method of diagnosing and evaluating carotid—cavernous fistulas has been x-ray cerebral angiography using contrast media (1—9).However, improvements in nuclear medicine techniques in recent years have provided the ability to perform radionuclide cerebral angiography with a high de gree of accuracy (10—15). It is a benign procedure that does not require catheterization or radiologic contrast media. The technique has been used with great success in detecting arteriovenous malforma tions. It is ideal in cases which require frequent or periodic analysis of cerebral blood flow before and after treatment and has been used as a screening test prior to x-ray contrast angiography. This paper describes the use of radionuclide cere brat angiography in the diagnosis and treatment evaluation of three patients with carotid—cavernous fistulas.