Bronchopulmonary Lavage for Removal of Inhaled Insoluble Materials from the Lung

A bronchopulmonary lavage technique utilizing saline washings is described for removing ⁹⁵Zr-⁹⁵Nb labeled ZrO₂ microspheres from the left lungs of beagle dogs. As assessed by external counting at 30 days post-exposure, the lungs of groups of dogs not lavaged, and those lavaged on day 0, day 8, day 16, or days 0, 8 and 16 post-exposure, contained 95, 88, 80, 74, and 72 percent of their initial burden, respectively. At sacrifice, 30 days post-exposure, >98 percent of the total radioactivity found in the animals at that time was in the lungs of both the lavaged and control dogs.