Fig. 4

Illustration of drug trickling from the endotracheal tube to the lungs in a patient from (A) the SCAT group and B from the ETT group. Graphics depict the evolution of activity deposited in lung regions for the right and the left lung throughout the dynamic acquisition during the nebulization (plain line) and after the nebulization (dashed line). Data point 4 of shorter acquisition duration was normalized to the 120-s acquisitions of other data points. Patient A Drug trickling was observed during the nebulization as indicated by the exponential increase of counts in the right inner region and after the nebulization in the left lung as indicated by the increase of activity inside the inner region while the activity inside the outer lung region plateaued. Patient B Drug trickling was observed in both lungs, especially in the inner to the outer right lung region. ETT endotracheal tube, SCAT specific ventilator circuit for aerosol therapy