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Regional cerebral oxygen supply and utilization in dementia. A clinical and physiological study with oxygen-15 and positron tomography. By R.S.J. Frackowiak, C. Pozzilli, N.J. Legg, J. Marshall, G.L. Lenzi and T. Jones (From the MRC Cyclotron Unit and the Department of Medicine [Neurology], Hammersmith Hospital, London W12 OHS, the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London WC1 and III Neurological Clinic, University of Rome, Italy). Brain 1981: 104; 753–778
Cambridge
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It has been known since 1945 that blood flow is altered in patients with dementia, and subsequent work has also shown that cerebral oxygen uptake and utilization are impaired proportional to the degree of cognitive impairment. More difficult to assess has been any change in regional blood flow. Initial efforts have not revealed a pattern that discriminates dementia from other conditions. These studies also leave open the question of whether alterations in blood flow faithfully reflect altered oxygen metabolism, as seems likely on theoretical grounds. And it is another step in the argument to show that, if there are regional changes in oxygen extraction and utilization, these correlate with the multi-infarct category of dementia suggested by (Sir