Dynamic perfusion digital radiography for predicting pulmonary function after lung cancer resection.

Background:Accurate prediction of postoperative pulmonary function is important for ensuring the safety of patients undergoing radical resection for lung cancer. Dynamic perfusion digital radiography is an excellent and easy imaging method for detecting blood flow in the lung compared with the less-convenient conventional lung perfusion scintigraphy. As such, the present study aimed to confirm whether dynamic perfusion digital radiography can be evaluated in comparison with pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy in predicting early postoperative pulmonary function and complications.Methods:Dynamic perfusion digital radiography and spirometry were performed before and 1 and 3 months after radical resection for lung cancer. Correlation coefficients between blood flow ratios calculated using dynamic perfusion digital radiography and pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy were then confirmed in the same cases. In all patients who underwent dynamic perfusion digital radiography, the correlation predicted values calculated from the blood flow ratio, and measured values were examined. Furthermore, ppo%FEV1 or ppo%DLco values, which indicated the risk for perioperative complications, were examined.Results:A total of 52 participants who satisfied the inclusion criteria were analyzed. Blood flow ratios measured using pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy and dynamic perfusion digital radiography showed excellent correlation and acceptable predictive accuracy. Correlation coefficients between predicted FEV1 values obtained from dynamic perfusion digital radiography or pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy and actual measured values were similar. All patients who underwent dynamic perfusion digital radiography showed excellent correlation between predicted values and those measured using spirometry. A significant difference in ppo%DLco was observed for respiratory complications but not cardiovascular complications.Conclusions:Our study demonstrated that dynamic perfusion digital radiography can be a suitable alternative to pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy given its ability for predicting postoperative values and the risk for postoperative respiratory complications. Furthermore, it seemed to be an excellent modality because of its advantages, such as simplicity, low cost, and ease in obtaining in-depth respiratory functional information.Trial registration:Registered at UMIN on October 25, 2017. https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr/ctr_his_list.cgi?recptno=R000033957Registration number: UMIN00002971

Reliability of dynamic perfusion digital radiography as an alternative to pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy in predicting postoperative lung function and complications

Background:Accurate perioperative risk assessment can enhance the perioperative management of patients undergoing radical surgery for lung cancer. In this study, we compared the accuracy of predicting perioperative complications by lung function values, estimated by blood flow ratios (BFRs), to determine whether dynamic perfusion digital radiography (DPDR) could substitute for pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy (PPS).Methods:Patients scheduled for radical surgery for lung cancer who underwent simultaneous dynamic chest radiography (DCR) and lung perfusion scintigraphy were assessed. We confirmed the agreement between two methods in the assessment of the BFR and its predicted postoperative (ppo) value. Besides, the best spirometry thresholds for the risk of perioperative respiratory or cardiovascular complications were calculated from a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The imaging methods were compared for sensitivity and specificity.Results:Among the 44 cases enrolled, DPDR and PPS showed high correlations in BFR (r=0.868, P0.7] for respiratory complications within 1 month (with different cut-offs for same target cases). For predicting, respiratory complications within 1-3 months after surgery, these values were similar between two modalities. Furthermore, the ppoDLco values from both imaging methods were excellent indicators of the induction of postoperative long term oxygen therapy, with the AUC greater than 0.8.Conclusions:This study showed that simple and less invasive DPDR can be a good alternative to PPS for predicting postoperative pulmonary function values and the risk of postoperative respiratory complications. This new imaging modality will offer new insights and possible functional analyses of pulmonary circulation