Recently, Canadian and US investigators have reported new uses for radioactive macroaggregates in scanning.
This technique of injecting minute particles of human albumin into the peripheral circulation prior to scanning has proved successful in the past in detecting various lung lesions.
Henry N. Wagner, MD, one of the original investigators in the field, now reports the method useful in examination of patients with arteriosclerosis. He and co-workers at Johns Hopkins University suggest that it also may be practical for studying the peripheral circulation, regional blood flow in syncope, shock, hypertension, clubbing, and Raynaud's disease.
In a separate report, Leonard Rosenthal, MD, Montreal General Hospital, said the technique appears to be safe and effective for brain scanning and detecting arteriovenous shunts because injected quantities are small and because the grape-like clusters of particles collected in the capillaries are metabolized quickly.
Dr. Rosenthal said that no deleterious effects were observed when aggregates