ANALYSIS OF EQUINE SCINTIGRAPHICAL LUNG IMAGES

A method is proposed (1) to create inhalation to perfusion ratio (I/Q) images from equine lung scintiscans and (2) to analyse these I/Q imag es. This method was applied to five healthy horses in order to establi sh reference ranges of I/Q distribution pattern. Computed I/Q images w ere divided in three regions based on the activity due to the inhalati on (I) versus perfusion (Q) procedure. For each region a regional mism atching factor (Ir-i), i.e. the I/Q of the region, and an intraregiona l mismatching factor (Ir-i), which expresses the variability of pixels ' I/Q within the region, were calculated. The Per(R(i)) and Cen(R(i)), which are the percentage of pixels in the parenchymal and in the cent ral parts of the lung belonging to the region, were also computed. Res ults of this analysis showed a good match between I and Q distribution pattern.