The retention of 14C-DTPA in human volunteers after inhalation or intravenous injection.

This study in human volunteers was designed to compare the retention of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) in the body after intravenous (i.v.) injection with that following inhalation by using a 14C labelled tracer. After i.v. injection retention in the blood could be described by three exponential components with half-times of about 1.4 min (approximately 60%) 14.3 min (approximately 20%) and 95 min (approximately 20%). By 24 hr more than 99% of the 14C-DTPA had been excreted in the urine and less than 0.5% remained in the plasma. After inhalation of 14C-DTPA retention in the lungs could be represented by a single component with a half time of about 75 min. As a consequence the length of time that a therapeutically useful amount of DTPA is retained in the body is approximately twice that following intravenous injection.