Radioaerosol scintigraphy in infants and children born to mothers with HIVdisease

PURPOSE: To determine the usefulness of technetium 99m diethyltriaminepenta cetic acid (DTPA) radioaerosol inhalation-clearance scintigraphy for early detection of pulmonary complications of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 301 studies were performed in 132 HIV-pos itive children (group 1; mean age, 46.6 months). In children born to HIV-po sitive mothers (group 2), 273 studies were performed in 160 children who ev entually were proved to be HIV negative (mean age, 10.3 months), and 80 stu dies were performed in 47 HIV-positive children (mean age, 15.6 months). Ra dioaerosol studies were performed by using commercially available radioaero sol nebulizers. Pulmonary clearance half-time was measured by using convent ional gamma camera computer systems. Radioaerosol results were correlated w ith indexes of pulmonary health and function. RESULTS: The HIV-negative, group 2 children had a mean radioaerosol clearan ce half-time (58.1 minutes; 162 studies in 108 children) similar to that re ported in healthy adults. Group 1 children with pulmonary involvement exhib ited a faster mean clearance half-time (28.6 minutes) than did children wit hout evidence of pulmonary involvement from either group 1 or group 2 (P < .05). A faster pulmonary clearance rate did not simply reflect the presence of chest disease that also was detectable on radiographs (P = .3). CONCLUSION: Quantitative DTPA radioaerosol clearance studies may provide us eful information about pulmonary involvement in selected children with HIV disease.