[A radionuclide study of the lungs in sarcoidosis]

Altogether 43 patients with a primary diagnosis of sarcoidosis of the respiratory organs were investigated to reveal the presence and spreading of dysfunction of external respiratory indices and indices of capillary blood supply in patients with sarcoidosis. Of them sarcoidosis was confirmed clinically in 36. Of the other 7 patients 5 had tuberculosis of various forms, one--lung cancer, and one--chronic obstructive bronchitis. All the patients were subjected to radionuclide investigation with 133Xe, 99mTc-microspheres, and 67Ga-citrate. The results obtained permit objective assessment of the presence and a degree of disorders of external respiration and capillary blood supply and the determination of disease activity on the basis of 67Ga-citrate accumulation that is important for the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy. The results were assessed with relation to a degree of sarcoidosis and the type of a pathological process.