The lipophilic 99mTc-labeled oxime propylene amine oxime (PnAO) should, according to recent reports behave like 133Xe in the human brain. This study compares SPECT images of the two tracers in six subjects: four stroke cases, one transitory ischemic attack case and one normal subject. Technetium-99m PnAO was injected i.v. as a bolus of 15 to 25 mCi. The distribution was followed over 10-sec intervals using a highly sensitive, rapidly rotating SPECT (Tomomatic 64) and compared to 133Xe flow maps. Upon arrival of the PnAO bolus to the brain, a high uptake was found in brain tissue with high cerebral blood flow followed by rapid washout. In the stroke cases, low flow areas were equally well visualized by both tracers. Two dissimilarities were seen in the initial pictures: PnAO visualized the cerebral veins and showed a lesser contrast of gray:white matter uptake. The results suggest that PnAO has a high yet incomplete brain extraction yielding a flow dominated initial distribution with limitations mentioned.