Nuclear imaging techniques for equine respiratory disease |
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| Authors: | M W O'Callaghan |
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| Institution: | Department of Radiology, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA 01536. |
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| Abstract: | When performed on selected clinical cases, ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy provides valuable additional information on regional lung function that is not obtainable from conventional thoracic radiographs. This is particularly true of horses with EIPH, COPD, and those suspected of having some form of small-airway disease. For horses with EIPH, the presence of a perfusion deficit on the scan is considered a key prognostic sign, because it is likely in these cases that irreversible bronchial arterial takeover has occurred in the affected areas of lung. Findings from horses with COPD have improved our understanding of the radiographic patterns of airtrapping and vascular distribution and provided us with a sensitive means of detecting residual bronchial changes in the absence of clinical signs of the disease. Several other scintigraphic parameters such as mucociliary clearance and abscess-avid labeling show promise for future lung imaging on clinical cases but still require further research to develop appropriate techniques for delivery and image analysis. |
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