The response of cerebral blood flow (CBF) to drug-induced hypotension was measured in 20 patients who underwent craniotomy for clipping of a cerebral aneurysm following subarachnoid hemorrhage. A modified intravenous xenon-133 injection technique was used to monitor CBF. In 15 patients, CBF increased significantly with hypotension, and only one developed a late neurological deficit. In five patients, CBF fell with halothane-induced hypotension, and four developed delayed neurological deficits. Measurement of the intraoperative CBF response to halothane-induced hypotension may reveal those patients at greatest risk of developing late neurological deficits and who require more intensive postoperative monitoring and early use of the induced hypertension technique.