title: Usefulness of technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime lung scan to detect sub-clinical lung injury of patients with breast cancer after chemotherapy.
abstract: We investigated the sub-clinical lung injury in patients with breast cancer after chemotherapy by technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (Tc-99m HMPAO) lung scan. Fifty patients who underwent surgical resection for breast cancers were divided into two groups, those who received a combination of adjuvant chemotherapy and those who did not. Group 1 consisted of 25 patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy and group 2 consisted of 25 patients who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Tc-99m HMPAO lung scan was performed in each patient and the degree of pulmonary vascular endothelium damage was represented as lung/liver uptake ratios (L/L ratio). None of the 50 patients had positive plain chest radiograph (CXR) and pulmonary function test (PFT) findings. The results showed a significantly higher L/L ratio in the group 1 patients (0.57 +/- 0.13) than in the group 2 patients (0.32 +/- 0.05). We conclude that chemotherapeutic drugs may result in pulmonary vascular endothelium damage and that Tc-99m HMPAO lung scan has the potential to be a sensitive, objective and non-invasive method to detect sub-clinical lung injury of patients with breast cancers after chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Feng-Yu
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu-Chien
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Shian
authors.forename: We-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chia-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime