Diagnostic imaging techniques in the evaluation of drug-induced pulmonary disease.

Although chest radiology is the first imaging option in evaluating patients for pulmonary manifestations of drug toxicity, the limitations of the pattern approach often predicate the use of other imaging techniques in addition to clinical and laboratory evaluation. There is a role for CT and nuclear scintigraphy in selected cases in an attempt to detect bioeffects while still at a reversible stage, or to differentiate drug toxicity from other etiologies. Future applications for MR imaging and in vivo MR spectroscopy are promising.