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Krypton 81m ventilation scanning in chronic obstructive airways disease
The British Journal of Radiology
|February 1, 1981
Summary
Ventilation and perfusion scans in chronic obstructive airways disease revealed matched lung defects in all patients. Acute exacerbations showed mismatched ventilation defects, sometimes resolving with treatment, and perfusion defects possibly indicating pulmonary emboli.
Area of Science:
- Pulmonary Medicine
- Nuclear Medicine
- Radiology
Background:
- Chronic obstructive airways disease (COPD) significantly impacts lung function.
- Accurate assessment of ventilation and perfusion is crucial for COPD management.
- Pulmonary embolism is a potential complication in COPD exacerbations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate ventilation and perfusion (V/Q) scans in patients with established COPD.
- To identify V/Q scan abnormalities during acute exacerbations.
- To correlate V/Q scan findings with pulmonary embolism and lung function tests.
Main Methods:
- Studied 60 patients with established COPD using V/Q scans.
- Utilized 81Krypton (81Krm) for ventilation scans.
- Employed 99mTechnetium (99Tcm)-labelled macroaggregates for perfusion scans.
Main Results:
- All patients exhibited matched V/Q defects distributed throughout the lungs.
- 21 out of 30 patients in acute exacerbation showed basal mismatched ventilation defects.
- Some mismatched defects resolved with treatment; others suggested pulmonary emboli.
- Poor correlation existed between semiquantitative scan defect assessment and conventional lung function tests.
Conclusions:
- V/Q scanning is valuable for assessing lung abnormalities in COPD patients.
- Mismatched V/Q defects during exacerbations may indicate pulmonary embolism.
- V/Q scan findings do not strongly correlate with standard lung function tests in COPD.