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Tissue Perfusion measured using the Ratio of 81Rb to 81mKr incorporated in the Tissue

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Abstract

RUBIDIUM, when introduced intravenously, behaves similarly to potassium, being incorporated principally within the intracellular pool1,2. The radionuclide 81Rb (refs. 3–5), produced in a cyclotron, decays with a half life of 4 h 34 min to 81mKr, which in turn decays with a half life of 13 s to stable 81Kr. Therefore the amount of 81Rb within a tissue after administration changes only slowly1, whereas its daughter, being inert, mixes uniformly with the tissue6 and is removed from it at a rate dependent on the perfusion of the tissue. At equilibrium the ratio of 81mKr to 81Rb within a tissue is given by: λ1/(λ2+ K), where λ1 and λ2 are the disintegration rate constants of 81Rb and 81mKr respectively and K the perfusion rate constant of the tissue. Thus the relationship between 81Rb and its inert gas daughter could provide a unique method for measuring tissue perfusion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London, W12

    T. JONES

  2. Community Health Department, CMC Hospital, PO Box 3, Vellore, 4, S. India

    C. M. E. MATTHEWS

Authors
  1. T. JONES
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  2. C. M. E. MATTHEWS
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JONES, T., MATTHEWS, C. Tissue Perfusion measured using the Ratio of 81Rb to 81mKr incorporated in the Tissue. Nature 230, 119–120 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230119a0

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