Does quantitative lung SPECT detect lung abnormalities earlier than lung function tests? Results of a pilot study

EJNMMI Research

Table 1 Characteristics of the subjects in order of increasing AUC(CV > 20%) value

Subject	Gender	Age (year)	Height (cm)	Weight (kg)	Body mass index	Smoking status	Passive smoker	Allergy	Airways affected by allergic reaction	Lung function abnormalities (lung function tests)	AUC(CV > 9.5%) [%]	AUC(CV > 20%) [%]
S1	M	49	191	82	22.5	Never	No	Yes^d	Upper^j	No^m	76	29
S2	M	49	185	77	22.5	Never	No	Yes^e	Upper^j	No	77	30
S3	M	50	190	85	23.5	Never	No	Yes^f	Upper^j	No	78	30
S4	M	48	187	75	21.4	Never	Yes^a	No	-	No	77	31
S5	M	50	178	72	22.7	Never	No	No	-	No	78	33
S6	M	69	181	100	30.5	Never	Yes^a	No	-	No	78	34
S7	M	60	188	85	24.0	Current	-	No	-	Noⁿ	78	34
S8	F	65	177	66	21.1	Current	-	Yes^g	Lower^k	No	80	34
S9	F	51	170	85	29.4	Never	Yes^a	No	-	No	78	36
S10	M	75	175	92	30.0	Never	No	Yes^h	Upper^j	No^o	79	39
S11	M	73	175	77	24.9	Ex-smoker	-	No	-	No	80	41
S12	F	67	172	78	26.4	Never	Yes^b	No	-	No^p	83	47
S13	F	67	167	79	28.3	Never	Yes^c	Yesⁱ	Lower^l	No^q	84	47
P1	M	55	176	85	27.4	Never	-	-	-	Yes^o,r,s	83	43
P2	M	81	167	58	20.8	Ex-smoker	-	-	-	Yes	90	61

^a20 years during childhood; ^b14 years during childhood and occupational; ^c10 years occupational; ^dgrass, pollen and dust; ^efur animals and grass; ^ffur animals and pollen; ^gstrong fragrances; ^hcat and chocolate; ⁱbirch pollen, timothy, grass, nuts, penicillin and sulfonamide; ^jrhinoconjunctivitis; ^kcough; ^lshortness of breath; ^msubject medicated with nasal spray of Budesonide at time of examination; ⁿbased on FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, TLC and RV without bronchodilation; ^obased on DLCOc before and FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, TLC and RV after bronchodilation; ^ppossible early signs of emphysema based on a reduced DLCOc value (see Table 2) and an elevated haemoglobin concentration in the blood; ^qbased on FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC without bronchodilation; ^rsubject medicated with inhalation of Budesonide and Formoterol in combination at time of examination; ^smoderate obstruction and signs of reversibility.