Pulmonary Perfusion Changes After Experimental Unilateral Bronchial Occlusion and Their Clinical Implications

Abstract

The authors scanned 15 mongrels—9 normal and 6 with unilateral lung reimplants—to see the effect of unilateral bronchial occlusion on pulmonary arterial perfusion. Pulmonary arterial perfusion decreased promptly following airway occlusion in the intact as well as in the reimplanted denervated lungs and reached a minimum level in ten to fifteen minutes. Perfusion changes seem to occur as a local reflex. For accuracy in interpretation of perfusion lung scans, it is important to recognize that obstructive airway disorders associated with localized ventilatory impairment can cause regional pulmonary ischemia and simulate the scans of acute pulmonary embolism.