Clinical significance of lung uptake in liver scanning

99mTc tin colloid accumulated in the lungs in 102 patients during liver imaging both in malignant and benign diseases. The percentage of neoplastic diseases increased when the lung uptake became greater and only patients with malignant final diagnosis had marked lung uptake. Abnormal liver image was seen only in 23%, which disagrees highly with some earlier findings on a rather small number of patients. The cause of increased lung uptake was suggested to be the activation of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) by disease. The activation of the RES was stronger in malignant than in benign diseases. Some type of regional stimulation of the RES was suggested as being due to the location of the disease and both malignant and benign diseases of the chest region stimulated the pulmonary part of the RES more than other parts of the RES.