Lung [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and ventilation-perfusion mismatch in the early stage of experimental acute smoke inhalation.
BACKGROUND
Acute lung injury occurs in a third of patients with smoke inhalation injury. Its clinical manifestations usually do not appear until 48-72 h after inhalation. Identifying inflammatory changes that occur in pulmonary parenchyma earlier than that could provide insight into the pathogenesis of smoke-induced acute lung injury. Furthermore, noninvasive measurement of such changes might lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment. Because glucose is the main source of energy for pulmonary inflammatory cells, the authors hypothesized that its pulmonary metabolism is increased shortly after smoke inhalation, when classic manifestations of acute lung injury are not yet expected.


METHODS
In five sheep, the authors induced unilateral injury with 48 breaths of cotton smoke while the contralateral lung served as control. The authors used positron emission tomography with: (1) [F]fluorodeoxyglucose to measure metabolic activity of pulmonary inflammatory cells; and (2) [N]nitrogen in saline to measure shunt and ventilation-perfusion distributions separately in the smoke-exposed and control lungs.


RESULTS
The pulmonary [F]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake rate was increased at 4 h after smoke inhalation (mean ± SD: 0.0031 ± 0.0013 vs. 0.0026 ± 0.0010 min; P < 0.05) mainly as a result of increased glucose phosphorylation. At this stage, there was no worsening in lung aeration or shunt. However, there was a shift of perfusion toward units with lower ventilation-to-perfusion ratio (mean ratio ± SD: 0.82 ± 0.10 vs. 1.12 ± 0.02; P < 0.05) and increased heterogeneity of the ventilation-perfusion distribution (mean ± SD: 0.21 ± 0.07 vs. 0.13 ± 0.01; P < 0 .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Using noninvasive imaging, the authors demonstrated that increased pulmonary [F]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and ventilation-perfusion mismatch occur early after smoke inhalation.
From the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine (G.M., T.W., M.F.V.M., T.J.W., N.d.P., J.G.V.), Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit (R.S.H.), and Department of Pathology (R.L.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Guido
G
Musch
Tilo
T
Winkler
R Scott
RS
Harris
Marcos F
MF
Vidal Melo
Tyler J
TJ
Wellman
Nicolas
N
de Prost
Richard L
RL
Kradin
Jose G
JG
Venegas
D055371:Acute Lung Injury / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D007249:Inflammation; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012756:Sheep; D015208:Smoke Inhalation Injury / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005947:Glucose