sy / / Nuclear Medicine Technology and Other Heakth Applications Project Title: 14. Scope: Early Detection and Localization of Pulmonary Impairment ao *, ¢ * fe ret ots ct EE a = wails fot SS ' aes t . | ORK AO1L-03-(5) (Cont'd) or for widespread screening of people. The benefits to be realized from development of this program result from a reduction in the progression of pulmonary disease by means of early detection and accurate diagnosis, areas: (1) i These bencfits appear in three reduction in the death rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, estimatad to cause 30,009 deaths per year in the U.S. and being a contributing cause to 50,000 others, (2) elimination or at least reduction of the length of hospitalization of pulmonary patients, and (3) reduction of the extent of disability and, hence, of Social Security pension payments for chronic disability costing several hundred million dollars annually. 15. Relationship to Other Projects: Both techniques will be developed and used in a joint collaborativa effort between the Medical and Applied Science Departments at BNL and the hospitals associated with two units of the State University of New York -- the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, under the guidance of Drs. H. S. Lyons and N. A. Solomon, and the Health Sciences Center ac Stony Brook, under the guidance of Dr. I. Rezak. The development work, including initial clinical testing, will be carried out at BNL, followed by extensive clinical studies at the well-established pulmonary centers associated with the University. The airway closure technique is also under development at several laboratories, including McGill University, whose researchers have just recently begun to use inert argon in addition to radioactive xenon 133, Massachusetts General Hospital, where nitrogen 13 is used, and Harvardl School of Public Health, where some work with helium is underway. Helium should provide greater sensitivity than other gases, since its high diffusion rate results in the most rapid distribution in all airways, and its lower solubility in blood, compared with other gases, ensures that its concentration in the alveolar gas will depend solely on alveolar ventilation. Prelim@isy studies with xenon 127 were carried out at the Argonne Cancer Resew#M@® Hospital. The development of the production technology of xenon 127 at Brookhaven is already being funded by the AEC-DAT. (See Continuation Shect) 1119248 ‘