USE OF RADIOISOTOPE TECHNIQUES FOR EVALUATION OF PATIENTS WITH PULMONARY-DISEASE

Abstract

Pulmonary perfusion scanning is generally accepted in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary embolism; the introduction of regional ventilation studies with 133Xe, the use of computers to provide quantitative data and the advances being made in cardiovascular nuclear medicine indicate that nuclear medicine procedures are being used in the evaluation of patients with lung and heart diseases. They are valuable in differential diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, assessment of regional involvement in pulmonary parenchymal disease, including degenerative, neoplastic and infectious diseases, detection of bullous disease and determination of the possible effectiveness of surgery. The response to radiation therapy in patients with lung cancer may be assessed; pulmonary venous hypertension in patients with mitral valve or left ventricular disease, cor pulmonale and cyanosis in newborn infants may also be diagnosed using pulmonary perfusion scanning.