Summary:Regional cerebral blood volume (CBV) can be calculated using data obtained during the kinetic analysis of 18F-labeled 2-fluoro-2-deoxY-D-glucose (FDG) uptake measured by positron emission tomography (PET). As a result the influence of vascular activity upon the determi nation of FDG rate constants can be minimized. The method is investigated by simulation experiments and by analysis of PET studies on seven older, healthy human volunteers aged 52-70 years. The accuracy of measured FDG rate constants kl' k2, and k3' obtained either by omitting the early portion of the uptake curve or by ex plicit inclusion of CBV as a fit parameter, is compared. The root mean square error in measured rate constant for the latter method is equivalent to that obtained by omit ting the first 2. 5-3 min of tissue data and neglecting the CBV term. Hence, added information about the physio logical state of the tissue is obtained without compro-The use of 18 F-labeled 2-f1uoro-2-deoxY-D-glu cose (FDG) and positron emission tomography (PET) to determine regional cerebral glucose was introduced in humans by Reivich et al. (1979), using the deoxyglucose model of Sokoloff et al. (1977), and extended to include phosphatase activity by Phelps et al. (1979a). Since then the method has been used to study a variety of pathological condi tions (Phelps et aI. , 1982; Yamamoto et aI. , 1984). The method estimates regional glucose utilization by comparing the observed tissue activity concen-