A survey of radiologists and nuclear physicians in 360 hospitals in the UK was undertaken to assess the current use of pulmonary ventilation agents. Replies were received from 340 (94%) hospitals. Of these, 200 (59%) provided lung scanning. The agents used for ventilation studies were Tc-labelled aerosols (118, 59%), 81Krm (58, 29%), 133Xe (42, 21%) and 127Xe (4, 2%). Nine (4.5%) hospitals performed perfusion scintigraphy without providing ventilation imaging. Thirty-two (16%) hospitals used more than one agent for ventilation imaging.