[A radionuclide study of the lungs in sarcoidosis]. / Radionuklidnoe issledovanie legkikh pri sarkoidoze.

Altogether 43 patients with a primary diagnosis of sarcoidosis of the respiratory organs were investigated to reveal the presence and spreading of dysfunction of external respiratory indices and indices of capillary blood supply in patients with sarcoidosis. Of them sarcoidosis was confirmed clinically in 36. Of the other 7 patients 5 had tuberculosis of various forms, one--lung cancer, and one--chronic obstructive bronchitis. All the patients were subjected to radionuclide investigation with 133Xe, 99mTc-microspheres, and 67Ga-citrate. The results obtained permit objective assessment of the presence and a degree of disorders of external respiration and capillary blood supply and the determination of disease activity on the basis of 67Ga-citrate accumulation that is important for the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy. The results were assessed with relation to a degree of sarcoidosis and the type of a pathological process.

[The importance of radionuclide methods in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis and the determination of its activity]. / Znachenie radionuklidnykh metodov v diagnostike sarkoidoza i opredelenii ego aktivnosti.

Sclerotic changes are brought about rather early in case of sarcoidosis. Therefore, it is extremely important for the clinicians to assess a functional condition of the sarcoidosis patients' lungs, to locate the lesions and their extent and to have an idea about the process activity. To a certain degree, the answers to all these questions can be found by means of radionuclide methods using 133Xe, 99mTc and 67Ga. A complex of radioisotope investigations makes it possible to produce a proper assessment of external respiration and capillary blood flow in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, including the extent and activity of the process itself.