Journal de biophysique et médecine nucléaire

A general overview of the potentials of positron emission tomography and of positron- emitting radiopharmaceuticals for the evaluation of regionnal cerebral blood flow is proposed and discussed. Specific charactéristics of this technique are described, with special stress on conceptual and methodological implications. Four different approaches to the problem of the determination of cerebral blood flow are distinguished : trapping equilibrium methods, steady state equilibrium methods, clearance methods and convoluted kinetic methods.