A quantitative study of regional cerebral blood flow in childhood using 123I-IMP-SPECT: with emphasis on age-related changes

Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), using N-isopropyl-p-[123I] iodoamphetamine (123I-IMP) was used for quantitative analysis of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) on 26 individuals between 0 and 19 years of age. The rCBF showed age-related changes; it was low in early infancy, increased in late infancy through early childhood, and decreased and remained constant after puberty. The rCBF through cerebral cortex varied more greatly than through thalamus and cerebellum, and seemed to depend more closely on age. In the case of 4 months of age rCBF was very low at the frontal region and was very high at the occipital region. In more older cases, rCBF in the cerebral cortex was higher than in the thalamus. In childhood, rCBF was very inconsistent and showed a great inter-individual variance.