Is the predicted postoperative FEV1 estimated by planar lung perfusion scintigraphy accurate in patients undergoing pulmonary resection?
GROUND: Estimation of postoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) with radionuclide lung scintigraphy is frequently used to define functional operability in patients undergoing lung resection. We conducted a study to outline the reliability of planar quantitative lung perfusion scintigraphy (QLPS) with two different processing methods to estimate the postoperative lung function in patients with resectable lung disease. METHODS: Forty-one patients with a mean age of 57 +/- 12 years who underwent either a pneumonectomy (n = 14) or a lobectomy (n = 27) were included in the study. QLPS with Tc-99m macroaggregated albumin was performed. Both three equal zones were generated for each lung [zone method (ZM)] and more precise regions of interest were drawn according to their anatomical shape in the anterior and posterior projections [lobe mapping method (LMM)] for each patient. The predicted postoperative (ppo) FEV1 values were compared with actual FEV1 values measured on postoperativ
