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Pulmonary ventilation/perfusion scan - Results

Alternative Names

V/Q scan; Ventilation/perfusion scan; Lung ventilation/perfusion scan

Normal Values:

The health care provider should take a ventilation and perfusion scan and then evaluate it with a chest x-ray. All parts of both lungs should take up the radioisotope evenly.

What abnormal results mean:

If the lungs take up lower-than-normal amounts of radioisotope during a ventilation or perfusion scan, it may be due to:

Airway obstruction
A problem with blood flow (such as occlusion of the pulmonary arteries)
Damage from chronic smoking or COPD
Pneumonia
Pneumonitis
Pulmonary embolus
Reduced breathing and ventilation ability

Albumin injection

Reviewed last on: 9/13/2008
Benjamin Medoff, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Piccini JP, Nilsson K. The Osler Medical Handbook. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa:Saunders; 2006.

Patz EF, Coleman RE. Nuclear Medicine Techniques. In: Mason RJ, Murray J, Broaddus VC, Nadel J, eds. Textbook of Respiratory Medicine. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2005: chap 21.

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