Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to clarify the effect of nifedipine on local cerebral blood flow in patients with cerebral infarction. Local cerebral blood flow was measured in 10 patients aged 59.1 ± 9.1, who had the attack of cerebral infarction 1-3 weeks prior to the measurement. The cold xenon enhanced CT method using 35% Xe gas with in-vivo autoradiographic strategy was applied to measure the local cerebral blood flow (1-CBF). After the first measurement of 1-CBF, complete desaturation was performed and nifedipine (10 mg) was administered subligually. Then, the second set of scans for 1-CBF measurement after nifedipine and scan for local lambda value were made. Following the administration of nifedipine, the mean arterial blood pressure significantly decreased from 98.5 ±15.4 to 91.8 ± 12.6 mmHg (p<0.05). The mean CBF through the level of basal ganglia did not change following nifedipine administration (before nifedipine administration, 58.1 ± 12.5 ml/100 g brain/min; after nifedipine, 56.9 ± 10.2). The changes in CBF had no relationship with the degree of reduction in arterial blood pressure. The distribution of CBF improved after nifedipine administration in 4 cases, and re-distribution was observed in 3 cases. These findings suggest that cerebral blood flow did not uniformly decrease following nifedipine administration unless the decrease of blood pressure induced by nifedipine is prominent, and that nifedipine has direct vasodilatory effect on cerebral vessels.
