Gallium scanning in lymphoid interstitial pneumonitis of children with AIDS.

Lymphoid interstitial pneumonitis (LIP) is a frequent pulmonary complication in the child with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We report the gallium scan findings in two children with AIDS and LIP. Gallium scintigraphy in both children demonstrated increased radionuclide concentration throughout the lungs, a pattern indistinguishable scintigraphically from that of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). This should alert nuclear medicine practitioners and referring physicians to another cause of diffusely increased gallium uptake in the lungs of patients with AIDS.