PULMONARY DELIVERY OF NANOPARTICLES OF INSOLUBLE, IODINATED CT X-RAY CONTRAST AGENTS TO LUNG DRAINING LYMPH-NODES IN DOGS

Lung cancer continues to be a leading cause of death around the world. Staging of this disease is critically dependent upon the involvement or noninvolvement of the lymph nodes which drain the region of lung co ntaining the lesion/tumor. Palpation, unenhanced CT, and lymph node ex cision (i.e., mediastinectomy) are currently used to ascertain the sta tus of these regional draining lymph nodes. The work reported herein d etails the first efforts toward the pulmonary instillation of iodinate d nanoparticles for contrast-enhanced CT of lung draining lymph nodes. The data reflect the impact of dose, time post instillation, and form ulation (surfactant) upon the observed CT enhancement of the tracheobr onchial lymph nodes of beagle dogs. In addition, initial safety is dis cussed with both macroscopic and microscopic observations. The results indicate that pulmonary instillation of small volumes of iodinated na noparticles could be successfully used to aid staging of lung cancer b y CT imaging.