STUDIES OF REGIONAL LUNG FUNCTION USING RADIOACTIVE OXYDEN

Journal/Book: Reprinted from the British Medical Journal 23 1960 vol. i pp. 231-238. 1960;

Abstract: *M.R.C. Radiotherapeutic Research Unit Hammersmith Hospital London. M.R.C. External Scientific Staff and Department of Medicine. Postgraduate Medical School of London Hammersmith Hospital. London. Summary The cyclotron-produced radioactive isotope oxygen-15 with a half-life of two minutes has been used to study regional lung function. There is no intubation of the patient. Pairs of scintillation counters placed an the chest wall have been used to measure radiation from two regions simultaneously. From observation of counting-rates during breath-holding following a single inspiration of active gas the relative ventilation and blood-flow of the regions is assessed. This paper describes the results obtained in selected patients with abnormal lung function. We thank Dr. Constance Wood Director of the M.R.C. Radiotherapeutic Research Unit and the physicians of this hospital and elsewhere who kindly referred their patients for the investigations ; Mr. D. D. Vonberg the senior cyclotron engineer and his staff ; Dr. Ter-Pogossian of Washington University St. Louis for early discussions on the preparation and use of oxygen-15 ; and Mr. P. Buckingham Mr. L. E. Baker and Mr. W. Verney for valuable technical assistance.

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