In many ways, the lung is an ideal organ for study with positron emission tomography (PET).
First, structure-function relations are homogeneous over larger areas than in other organs
(reducing problems associated with otherwise relatively poor spatial resolution and partial-
volume averaging). Second, many physiologic and metabolic processes can be studied,
including pulmonary blood flow, ventilation, vascular permeability, endothelial receptor and
enzyme function, among others. A variety of radiotracers have been used to evaluate …