Atraumatic Local Labelling of Skin by Xenon-133 for Blood Flow Measurement: Use of Xenon-133 Clearance Methods in Burns

Abstract

The radioactive inert gas Xenon-133 was used for atraumatic local labelling of the skin by epicutaneous application in gaseous form. The method is described, commented on, and compared with the microinjection technique in simultaneous experiments in man. The technique was developed for local clearance studies of skin blood flow, and the results obtained support the supposition that there exists a trauma-of-injection in the skin in experiments where skin labelling is performed by injection of Xenon-133 in saline. The possibility of using the atraumatic Xenon-133 gas labelling technique in burns to measure blood flow in the cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues is discussed. The use of histamine to standardize the injection trauma is suggested as a capability test of cutaneous blood flow. The effective perfusion pressure in the skin under hyperaemic conditions, measured as the back-pressure required to arrest the blood flow, is suggested as another test of blood flow capability. The methods described here afford a possibility of yielding information concerning the depth of vascular derangement in burns.