Radionuclide imaging of airway obstruction following assisted ventilation.

Radioaerosol lung scintigraphy was performed in five infants in whom obstructive airway complications developed following assisted ventilation. These studies suggest that a primary functional defect was obstruction to airflow at the level of the major airways, which occurred during expiration. Perfusion lung scintigraphy showed areas of diminished or redistributed pulmonary blood flow, which, like the results of the radioaerosol scintigraphic studies, are findings often associated with adult chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.