Effect of Garlic on Perfusion Scintigraphy of Rabbit’s Lungs Following Experimentally-Induced Pulmonary Embolism

Purpose: To study of the effect of garlic on rabbit’s lungs, with the aid of perfusion scintigraphy, after experimentally-induced pulmonary embolism. Methods: Twelve adult rabbits were anesthetized. Prepared macroaggregated albumintechnetium 99m (Tc-MAA) radiopharmaceutical was injected into the ear vein at a dose of 1.5 mCi. Perfusion scintigraphic images of the healthy rabbits’ lungs were taken, and pulmonary embolism was experimentally induced by injection of autologous blood clots. Again, lung perfusion scintigraphic images of the rabbits’ lungs were obtained. The animals were divided into two groups. The first group received normal saline and the other group received garlic tablet medication for seven days. Thereafter, perfusion scintigraphic images of the lungs were generated. Results: The symmetric accumulation of radiotracer in the right and the left lobes of the lungs were observed in the scintgraphic images of the healthy animals. In embolic status scans, non-symmetric accumulation of the radiopharmaceutical was seen while in the scintigrams of garlic-treated group with pulmonary embolism, symmetric absorption of radioisotope was observed, similar to the perfusion lung scans of healthy animals. Conclusion: The results obtained show that garlic may help to dissolve the blood clots that cause pulmonary embolism in rabbits.