LUNG TOXICITY OF CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC-AGENTS DETECTED BY TC-99M DTPA RADIOAEROSOL INHALATION LUNG SCINTIGRAPHY

We investigated the lung toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs in patient s with breast cancer by means of Tc-99m DTPA aerosol scintigraphy. Thi rty three patients who underwent surgical resection for breast cancer were divided into two groups, those who received a combination of adju vant chemotherapy and those who did not. Group 1 consisted of 19 patie nts who received adjuvant chemotherapy and group 2 consisted of 14 pat ients who did not received adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapeutic age nts included 5-fluorouracil 1000 mg, endoxan 1000 mg and MTX 50 mg, al l given intravenously. Aerosol lung scintigraphy was performed in all patients, in the supine position. The degree of lung damage was presen ted as the half clearance time (T-1/2) in minutes from the dynamic lun g images. Only the right lung was used to analyze clearance, in order to avoid interference from stomach activity on the left side. The resu lts show T-1/2 times of 68.18 +/- 20.04 min and 94.46 +/- 34.78 min, o ver the right lung, for groups 1 and 2, respectively. The difference i s significant, with a p-value of 0.016, using the Mann-Whitney U test. We conclude that some chemotherapeutic drugs such as MTX, may result in pulmonary damage and that aerosol lung scintigraphy can provide an objective mean for early detection of pulmonary damage during cytotoxi c chemotherapy.