Appropriate background correction for DTPA aerosol clearance

Measurement of the clearance rate of inhaled aerosols of99mTc-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) from distal airway to pulmonary capillary is a sensitive technique for the detection of lung injury. As the solute diffuses across the blood-gas barrier, the concentration in circulating blood increases, giving rise to a background signal superimposed on the signal from residual DTPA in the airway. Background subtraction is conventionally based on the thigh, but this tissue has the disadvantage in that its composition, in terms of the relative volumes of its extracellular extravascular and intravascular compartments (a ratio of ∼4:1), is quite different from that of the lung (<1:6). With comparison to the thigh, we examined alternative regions for background, liver, and cranium, which have extravascular-to-intravascular compartment ratios much closer to these for the lung, to determine the most appropriate background for correction of the pulmonary signal. From 1 min after intravenous injection of 99mT...