Nuclear VQ Imaging (Lung Scan)

Your physician has referred you to the Diagnostic Services Department at United Hospital Center for a procedure known as VQ Scan (lung scan).

Perfusion lung imaging is a noninvasive method for evaluating pulmonary arterial blood flow. Pulmonary embolization (PE) or the lodging of small clots in the lung that usually originate in the deep venous system of the lower extremity is a diagnosis that is difficult to make clinically. The normal lung perfusion imaging study virtually eliminates the diagnosis of pulmonary embolization. Conversely, an abnormal perfusion lung image is found in airway diseases, COPD, airway obstruction, ventilatory function disease, lung tumors; consequently, an aerosol lung scan is used in conjunction with lung perfusion images to establish whether perfusion defects result from disease of the bronchial tree or from PE.

Upon arriving in the Diagnostic Services Department, you will be asked to either sit on a chair in front of the nuclear imaging camera or lie on a bed with the camera over your chest.

The aerosol study will be performed first. You will be asked to put a mouthpiece in your mouth and you will breathe oxygen plus a small amount of a radioactive mist into your lungs. This process takes 5-10 minutes. Once you have breathed enough of the mist into your lungs, a series of 5-6 images of your lungs in different positions will be taken.

The perfusion study is now started. You will receive an injection into a vein in your arm of a small amount of radioactive material and this activity also goes to the lungs. The same series of images of your lungs will be taken.

LENGTH: Approximately 1 hour

If you are pregnant, or think you might be, tell your doctor and the technologist BEFORE your exam.