Arterial Changes in the Lungs in Cirrhosis of the Liver — Lung Spider Nevi

Abstract

THE association of hepatic cirrhosis with cyanosis and finger clubbing1 2 3 4 and with arterial oxygen desaturation4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 has been recognized for many years, and the possible basis investigated. Abnormalities in the oxygen dissociation curve in cirrhotic patients have been reported6 but not confirmed.11 , 12 More recently, Caldwell, Fritts and Cournand20 again called attention to abnormal oxygen tension-saturation relations in cirrhosis but concluded that the contribution of these toward oxygen unsaturation was probably small. Physiologic evidence for an admixture of venous to arterial blood has been presented.8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 The possibility of anastomoses between the pulmonary veins and either the pulmonary artery or the portal venous . . .