PET Scans Used to Assess Lung Inflammation

Washington University scientists say a new method of assessing lung inflammation should speed drug development for conditions such as cystic fibrosis.

The researchers at the university’s school of medicine in St. Louis say up to now, the only ways to assess a new drug’s effectiveness in fighting lung inflammation were not pleasant.

The lead author of the study, Delphine Chen, the medical school’s chief resident in nuclear medicine, said: We could perform a bronchoscopy and gather samples directly from the breathing passages. Or we could have patients inhale a saline solution and cough it back up.

The new imaging process should also make it easier and much less expensive to test potential anti-inflammatory drugs in trials.

To make it possible to detect lung inflammation with PET, Chen and colleagues employed an imaging technique commonly used to diagnose cancer and monitor its treatment.

Scientists explain the method online in The Journal of Applied Physiology.

The researchers already have completed a trial to test the procedure’s ability to detect inflammation in cystic fibrosis patients. The results of that trial are to appear soon in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.