Methods: Adenosine was evaluated in combination with 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT as an intravenous agent for the pharmacological stress-test of the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 12 patients with internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis without neurologic deficit (8 subjects) or with minimal deficit (4 subjects). Also, the adenosine-induced effects on rCBF were correlated with the anatomic severity of ICA stenosis. Six normal age-matched volunteers served as control.
Results: The rest 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT data did not reveal any significant interhemispheric asymmetry of perfusion either in ICA stenosis patients or in control subjects. No interhemispheric asymmetry was observed in control subjects during adenosine infusion either. In ICA stenosis the adenosine test did induce interhemispheric asymmetry of perfusion, which ranged between 0.73 and 0.96 when quantified as an interhemispheric ratio of 99mTc-HMPAO uptake. In 5 of the 12 patients with ICA stenosis, adenosine also elicited a short - term muscular weakness and/or skin paresthesia consistent with cerebral location of the related cortical zones in the stenosis - dependent hemisphere. No correlation was noted between the interhemispheric anatomic planimetric asymmetry of stenosis (as ratio of patent ICA vessel lumen areas) and perfusion asymmetry at rest. The planimetric asymmetry of stenosis correlated significantly with the adenosine-induced asymmetry of rCBF in ICA - dependent areas (r = 0.78, p < 0.02). The correlation could be observed beginning from the magnitude of 70-75% relatively to the cross-sectional area of the contralateral intact vessel, equivalent to 45-50% decrease in the arterial diameter as compared to the intact artery.
Conclusion: Therefore, the conclusion can be drawn that adenosine as a potent cerebral vasodilatator may be employed as a challenging agent for functional tests of rCBF and that the adenosine test facilitates detection of the hemodynamic effects of "minor" stenoses.