Injection of a small quantity of oil customarily used in lymphangiography results in improved lung scans, New Orleans investigators have found.
Use of labeled-ethiodized oil in ten patients and a large number of animals indicates both its safety and efficiency, Sam A. Threefoot, MD, told the Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Further Work Needed
Although further clinical work is needed, advantages of the 0.02 to 0.2 ml oil injections appear to include:Specificity for the lungs, "without confusing scans of other organs";
Better definition lung bases, and
Ability to repeat scans immediately or several days after a single injection.
The possibility of adapting the contrast medium to lung visualization was suggested to Dr. Threefoot and co-workers by their research into lymphatico-venous communications (JAMAMedical News195:39 [Jan 10] 1966). "We observed that up to 50% of the intralymphatic volume entered the blood and was removed by the lungs."This suggested