Fig 1.

Early organ distribution and lung uptake of technetium-99m–labeled eosinophils. A, Participants in the scanning protocols. B, Time-course of radioactivity in the right lung following reinjection of technetium-99m–labeled eosinophils. C, Half-life of technetium-99m–labeled eosinophil activity in the lungs. Median with interquartile range (Mann-Whitney U test). D, Proportion of technetium-99m–labeled eosinophils remaining in the blood 45 minutes after reinjection. Median with interquartile range (Mann-Whitney U test). E, Gamma camera image 5 minutes (left) and 40 minutes (right) after reinjection of technetium-99m–labeled eosinophils in a healthy volunteer. Posterior images show accumulation in the right lung (RL), left lung (LL), liver (L), and spleen (S). F and G, Distribution of radioactivity in the liver (green) and spleen (black) following reinjection of technetium-99m–labeled eosinophils. Data show median with interquartile range in healthy volunteers (Fig 1, F) and patients with asthma (Fig 1, G); *P < .05, **P < .01, and ***P < .001 compared with peak liver or peak spleen radioactivity (Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn posttest). †P = .009 compared with healthy liver radioactivity at 17 minutes (Mann-Whitney U test). H, Transaxial SPECT images. Images show accumulation in the RL and LL (outlined by white lines) 6 hours after reinjection. Pulmonary uptake (I) and pulmonary migration (J) of technetium-99m–labeled eosinophils. Median with interquartile range (Mann-Whitney U test).