OSMOTIC BLOOD-BRAIN-BARRIER DISRUPTION - CT AND RADIONUCLIDE IMAGING

PURPOSE: To compare CT and radionuclide imaging of osmotic blood-brain barrier disruption. To develop a quantitative method for imaging osmo tic blood-brain barrier disruption and to see if iopamidol could be sa fely given intravenously in conjunction with blood-brain barrier disru ption. METHODS: Forty-five blood-brain barrier disruption procedures w ere imaged with CT and radionuclide scans. The scans were evaluated wi th visual and quantitative scales. Patients were observed for adverse effects after blood-brain barrier disruption. RESULTS: There was a 4% rate of seizures in this study. There was good agreement between visua l CT and radionuclide grading systems. Quantitative methods to grade d isruption did not add useful information to visual interpretations. CO NCLUSIONS: Nonionic iodine-based contrast medium has a lower incidence of seizures when injected intravenously in conjunction with osmotic b lood-brain barrier disruption than ionic contrast material. Contrast-e nhanced CT is the preferred method to image disruption because it has better spatial resolution than radionuclide techniques.