IN-111 LABELED POOLED HUMAN-IMMUNOGLOBULIN IMAGING TO MONITOR THE EFFICACY OF SPECIFIC THERAPY FOR PNEUMOCYSTIS-CARINII PNEUMONIA

Functional imaging is ideally suited to monitoring the effect of speci fic therapy on disease processes. In this pilot study five patients wi th AIDS and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) were imaged with Indi um-lll labelled pooled human immunoglobulin (In-111-HIG) during infect ion and after therapy for PCP. The lung activity of In-111-HIG, measur ed as a lung/heart ratio, was calculated in a study performed during i nfection with PCP and after therapy. In all five patients the lung/hea rt ratio of In-111-HIG was reduced after treatment. The mean reduction in heart/lung ratio was 27% (range 12%-53%). If these results are con firmed by a larger study, In-111-HIG will be useful in monitoring the response of PCP to therapy in patients with AIDS.