[Nuclear medicine diagnosis of the lung]

Scintigraphic recording of regional ventilation and perfusion with 99mTc-Aerosol and 99mTc-MAA remain in the foreground of nuclear medicine pulmonary diagnostics. The most important indication for ventilation scintigraphy is the prediction of postoperative pulmonary function, which is still performed in many hospitals with perfusion scintigraphy, and with which, in turn, intrapulmonary right-left shunts can be simply and also semiquantitatively recorded. Combined ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy offers a very high degree of sensitivity in the proof of acute pulmonary embolism, is therefore exceptionally well suited for exclusion diagnostics, while specificity compared to pulmonary angiography and spiral CT still needs some clarification. The self-cleaning mechanism of the lung can be quantitatively examined using mucociliary and resorptive clearance. The clinical areas of application are limited for methodical reasons. Primary diagnostics of bronchial carcinoma and dignity differentiation of solitary pulmonary nodules, preferably with 18F-FDG PET are gaining steadily in importance.