[Use of radioisotopes to study the function and morphology of the lung]

Radionuclide study provides many kinds of information in patients with pulmonary diseases. These include ventilation (V) perfusion (Q), distribution of inhaled therapeutic aerosols, mucociliary movement, epithelial permeability, and tumor imaging. VQ scintigraphy can be used in cases of pulmonary embolism, obstructive pulmonary diseases, and A-V shunt. 99mTc-technegas is useful in the study of ventilation, and many reports have been published about this new radiopharmaceutical. 67Ga scintigraphy can be used to evaluate patients with interstitial pulmonary diseases. Measurement of epithelial permeability with 99mTc-DTPA is also useful to assess damaged lung epithelium. For tumor imaging, 201T1C1 is be coming popular for the diagnosis of lung cancer and for early detection of metastatic lesions. Tumor detection with 99mTc-MIBI is also used to try to differentiate malignant tumors from benign processes.