Changes in cerebral blood flow and recovery from

We prospectively studied 14 patients with acute cerebral infarctions using serial ^I33Xenon inhalation cerebral determination (¹³³Xe-rCBF), scored neurological examinations, and neuropsycholog-icai testing. All patients underwent the same battery of tests at 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks after cerebral infarction to determine the prognostic value of early rCBF studies and the chronological relationship of changes in rCBF to clinical status. Baseline rCBF within 3 days of symptoms of acute stroke did not correlate with clinical neurological outcome (r = - 0.17, p< 0.30; r = - 0.18, p< 0.28, for the two indices of rCBF used). Among the 11 patients demonstrating neurological recovery, 7 improved at 1 week, significantly before increases in rCBF (p < 0.05). We conclude that early baseline rCBF does not predict clinical outcome in patients with acute cerebral infarctions and that return of neurological function precedes rather than follows increases in rCBF.