New Compton densitometer for measuring pulmonary edema

Conference · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:6379238

Loo, B W; Goulding, F S; Simon, D S

Pulmonary edema is the pathological increase of extravascular lung water found most often in patients with congestive heart failure and other critically ill patients who suffer from intravenous fluid overload. A non-invasive lung density monitor that is accurate, easily portable, safe and inexpensive is needed for clinical evaluation of pulmonary edema. Other researchers who have employed Compton scattering techniques generally used systems of extended size and detectors with poor energy resolution. This has resulted in significant systematic biases from multiply-scattered photons and larger errors in counting statistics at a given radiation dose to the patient. We are proposing a patented approach in which only backscattered photons are measured with a high-resolution HPGe detector in a compact system geometry. By proper design and a unique data extraction scheme, effects of the variable chest wall on lung density measurements are minimized. Preliminary test results indicate that with a radioactive source of under 30 GBq, it should be possible to make an accurate lung density measurement in one minute, with a risk of radiation exposure to the patient a thousand times smaller than that from a typical chest x-ray. The ability to make safe, frequent lung density measurements could be very helpful for monitoring the course of P.E. at the hospital bedside or outpatient clinics, and for evaluating the efficacy of therapy in clinical research. 6 refs., 5 figs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA); California Univ., San Francisco (USA). Cardiovascular Research Inst.
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 6379238
• Report Number(s): LBL-19667; CONF-851009-46; ON: DE86005212
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550602* -- Medicine-- External Radiation in Diagnostics-- (1980-)
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
BODY
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
COMPTON SCATTERING TOMOGRAPHY
DENSITOMETERS
DESIGN
DIAGNOSIS
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
EDEMA
LUNGS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
ORGANS
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
PHOTOMETERS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
SYMPTOMS
TOMOGRAPHY