A simple separator to generate half micron aqueous particles for lung imaging.

An aerosol of a radionuclide may be used for ventilation imaging as an alternative to radioactive rare gases. For good-quality images as few particles as possible must be deposited in the trachea and bronchi, which means that no, or very few, particles should have aerodynamic diameter of more than 2 micron. We have developed a separator to modify the output of an Acorn jet nebuliser. It reduced the proportion of particles in the aerosol with aerodynamic diameters of more than 2 micron from 60% for the unmodified output of the nebuliser to only 6%; it consisted of a cylinder of perspex with two compartments containing inert spheres, either stainless steel or glass, of diameter 3 mm (the first compartment contained two layers of spheres, and the main section was packed with spheres). To examine the efficiency of the separator system for routine clinical use we compared the images produced and the deposition of the particles in the modified aerosol (using 99TcmDTPA) with the distribution of ventilation of 81Krm in eight subjects. Despite the theoretical differences between the behaviour of a gas molecule and of a particle in the respiratory tree, the images produced using the modified aerosol delivery system were as good as those produced with 81Krm in normal subjects. In abnormal subjects the images produced were only distinguished following the calculation of a penetration index.