ASSESSMENT OF DEPOSITION OF INHALED AEROSOL IN THE RESPIRATORY-TRACT OF MAN USING 3-DIMENSIONAL MULTIMODALITY IMAGING AND MATHEMATICAL-MODELING

Multimodality medical imaging enables measurement of the three-dimensi onal spatial distribution of a radiolabeled aerosol within the lung, U sing a conceptual spatial morphological model these data may be transf ormed to provide information on deposition per airway generation, This methodology has been used to study the intrapulmonary deposition patt erns of two formulations of a metered dose inhaler and two nebulizers in control subjects, The nebulizer study has also been simulated using a computer model of deposition, The comparison between derived experi mental results and those from computer modeling shows areas of agreeme nt, although there are also areas of discrepancy. The new methodology has considerable potential value in the fields of inhalation therapy a nd deposition modeling, although more detailed validation is still req uired.