Abstract
Pulmonary function of 85 cases was studied by a scintillation camera to visualize as well as to record pulmonary uptake and clearance of 133Xe administered either by inhalation or by intravenous injection.
To observe ventilation of the lung, xenon gas was administered into spirometer and breathed by the patient in a closed system. By breathing the room air after continuous breathing of xenon-oxygen mixture, the xenon was washed out from the lung of the patient. During these times, several serial scintiphoto grams and counting rate were obtained.
Likewise, to observe pulmonary perfusion, serial scintiphotos and measurement of radioactivity were obtained over the lungs, at first during breath holding after intravenous injection of 133Xe dissloved in saline, and then during normal breathing, the 133Xe being washed out from the alveoli.
These serial scintiphoto grams, using 133Xe and scinticamera, provided a relatively simple means of measuring regional pulmonary arterial blood flow and ventilation. And these methods proved helpful in detecting regional ventilation and perfusion unbalance, and in observing disturvance of gas movement in obstructive disease of the lung.
