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In 43 patients with cystic fibrosis, the results of 122 Tc-99m DTPA aerosol ventilation (DAV) studies were compared with pulmonary function tests (PFTs) that were performed within 24 hours of the DAV studies. The DAV studies were evaluated blindly for (A) number of pulmonary segments showing little or no ventilation, (B) number of foci of bronchial deposition of aerosol, and (C) subjective overall improvement, lack of change, or worsening from the previous study. (A) and (B) correlated significantly with all PFTs (p's < .001, r's = -.51 to -.73). Changes in (A) and (B) also correlated with changes in PFTs (p's < or = .001, r's = -.37 to -.58). The three populations in (C) were significantly different from each other with respect to changes in all PFTs (p < or = .002). Intervals between studies showing subjective improvement, no change, and worsening averaged 60, 133, and 306 days, respectively. These results suggest that DAV is an indicator of both regional and global pulmonary function and may be useful in evaluating patients with cystic fibrosis.

Thirteen patients with cystic fibrosis (aged 11 to 32 years) who were hospitalized for exacerbation and who had sputum cultures positive for Pseudomonas organisms were treated initially for 4 days with bronchodilators and physiotherapy followed by the addition of antibiotic (14 days, n = 8) or placebo (14 days, n = 4; 7 days, n = 1). Tc-99m DTPA aerosol scintigraphy was performed on the day before bronchodilators and physiotherapy, on the day before antibiotic or placebo, and on the day after completion of antibiotic or placebo therapy. Scintigrams were evaluated for change in the number of nonventilated segments and change in the number of bronchial deposits of aerosol. Sixty-nine percent of patients showed improvement after bronchodilators and physiotherapy alone. Sixty-two percent showed further improvement after antibiotic or placebo was added; this improvement was independent of whether antibiotic or placebo was administered (P greater than 0.1). These aerosol scintigraphy results failed to demonstrate that the effectiveness of bronchodilators and physiotherapy is enhanced by antibiotics in the treatment of cystic fibrosis exacerbations.