title: Radionuclide imaging in the assessment of lung injury.
abstract: Nuclear medicine imaging techniques are being more widely applied to study a variety of lung injuries. Ventilation and perfusion imaging is often superior to other roentgenographic techniques for establishing the diagnosis and demonstrating the extent of such injuries. At several large burn centers, the Xe-133 washout technique has become the cornerstone for diagnosing early inhalation injury. The overall accuracy of this procedure is 92%. Regional decreases in ventilation and perfusion can reliably localize aspirated radiolucent foreign bodies. Disproportionate perfusion changes are often the earliest indicator of radiation pneumonitis and other forms of vascular injury. Other types of injury, such as gastropulmonary aspiration, blunt trauma, and near-drowning, require further evaluation before the ultimate role of nuclear imaging is defined. An imaging technique to assess capillary permeability in the adult respiratory distress syndrome would be of great clinical benefits.
mesh_terms: D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002059:Burns, Inhalation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D055370:Lung Injury; D011015:Pneumonia, Aspiration / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012709:Serum Albumin; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013667:Technetium; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin; D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes; D013667:Technetium