L'apport de la scintigraphie pulmonaire (French)

This French report from Clermont-Ferrand described lung scintigraphy, a scan of lung blood flow, in a small group of people with asbestosis. Subjects were injected with iodine-131-labelled human albumin particles, which lodge in the lungs' small blood vessels, and a scintillation camera recorded where they settled. Scans were compared with breathing tests, blood gas tests and chest X-rays. The subjects, apparently six, had confirmed, advanced asbestosis and had worked in textile spinning, weaving or, in one case, loom adjustment. The case described in detail was a 60-year-old woman with 15 years of spinning and weaving. Vital capacity was reduced by 40% to 62% of the predicted value, depending on the subject. Blood gases were normal at rest or showed slight isolated low oxygen, and diffusion figures were normal or near normal. By eye, most scans showed no major changes, but numerical analysis showed finely and globally irregular blood flow. The authors noted the small number of subjects and concluded that the method was easy, carried no risk, and gave interesting information on lung blood flow compared with standard tests.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. It was among the papers J-M kept in its medical library without an index entry.

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