title: Air leaks localized with lung ventilation SPECT.
abstract: A 61-year-old man with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease presented to our hospital with recurrence of a right-sided spontaneous secondary pneumothorax. Thoracoscopic abrasion of the parietal pleura was performed, but an important air leak persisted. Presumed to originate from a bulla in the right upper lobe, bullectomy and pleural decortication were performed, but leakage remained. Lobectomy was considered, and quantitative ventilation/perfusion SPECT was performed to predict the functional outcome.Fused high-resolution CT/Tc Technegas images localized leakage not only to a bleb in the right upper lobe but also to the subcutaneous emphysema in the thoracic wall. The air leak resolved after conservative treatment.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Nuclear Medicine, UZ Brussel, Laarbeeklaan, Brussels, Belgium. ceulemansgaetane@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Gaetane
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ceulemans
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Meirleir
authors.forename: Marleen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keyaerts
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smets
authors.forename: Douwe
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Verdries
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vincken
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Everaert
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon