Recently, radioisotope cisternography has become a widely used method for the morphological assessment of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics by means of radioactive materials introduced into the subarachnoid space. This technique provides useful information regarding the intracranical subarachnoid CSF dynamics. A wide variety of radioactive agents have been used with varying success to make the CSF space visible. In particular, in respect to stability, molecular weight and half-life,
169Yb-DTPA has been found to be one of the best radio-pharmaceuticals for cisternography.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the characteristics of
169Yb-DTPA compared with
131I-HSA in cisternography, based on the author's experimental data and clinical experience.
Experimental studies: (1) After injecting
131I-HSA,
169Yb-DTPA and
99mTc-pertechnetate respectively into the lumbar subarachnoid space of three groups of dogs, the author investigated serially the movement of these tracers with a scintillation camera and the transport of these isotopes from CSF space to blood by counting the radiosctivity of the blood samples with a well-type scintillation counter. The author observed that there is a good possibility that
169Yb-DTPA will show the dynamics of CSF absorption in both spinal and intracranial subarachnoid spaces.
(2) Ten ml of autologous whole blood was injected into the cisterna magna of dogs, and the injection was repeated 2-3 times at weekly intervals. Three to five weeks after the last injection, chronic subarachnoid hemorrhage was achieved. In both chronic subarachnoid hemorrhage dogs and control dogs, laminectomy was performed at C
2 level and silicon tube was cannulated into the intrathecal or intracranial subarachnoid space, and then, the intrathecal subarachnoid space was completely divided from intracranial subarachnoid space by extradural ligation. After 100μCi of
169Yb-DTPA was injected into the intrathecal or intracranial subarachnoid space, 1.0ml of physiological saline solution was injected into the same place from the tube. Then, CSF pressure changes were recorded continuously by the pressure transducer and blood samples were taken at regular time intervals from the veins in order to determine the amount of activity of
169Yb-DTPA transported into the blood from the subarachnoid space. In control cases, the elevated pressure immediately after injection of saline solution decreased to the level of 100-150mmH
2O for the period of approximately 10 minutes. According to these pressure changes, large amount of
169Yb-DTPA were transported into the blood from the subarachnoid space, but in chronic subarachnoid hemorrhage cases, prolonged elevation of CSF pressure was seen and little
169Yb-DTPA was transported into the blood. These results suggest that the transportation of
169Yb-DTPA into the blood from the subarachnoid space is closely related to the absorption dynamics of CSF in the intrathecal and intracranial subarachnoid space.
Clinical studies: In clinical cases, the author tried to determine how clearly one can see CSF dynamics, particularly in the intrathecal subarachnoid space by
169Yb-DTPA cisternography combined with the
169Yb-DTPA transfer test. With the patient in a lateral position, a spinal puncture was performed at L
4-5 interspace. After measuring CSF pressure, the author injected 500μCi of
169Yb-DTPA into the lumbar subarachnoid space. Then scintigrams of the head and lumbar regions were taken 1, 2, 6, 24 and 48 hours after the injection. In addition, at varying time intervals up to 6 hours, blood samples were taken from the veins in order to determine the amount of activity of
169Yb-DTPA transported to the blood from the subarachnoid space.
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