Diagnosis of orotracheal aspiration using radionuclide salivagram

Abstract

There are two main Nuclear Medicine techniques, the gastroesophageal reflux scintigraphy with late lung imaging and the nuclear salivagram, for diagnosis of pulmonary aspiration. Each of the techniques can document the two different, antegrade and retrograde, routes of pulmonary aspiration. In this report, we presented a patient with recurrent respiratory problems and emphasized the importance of concomitant use of the two techniques in the radionuclide diagnosis of aspiration.