Pulmonary arterial tree following prolonged experimental reduction of pulmonary blood flow.

Abstract

A Blalock anastomosis between the left subclavian artery and the left pulmonary artery was performed on six dogs soon after birth. As an unexpected complication of surgery, blood flow through the left lungs of two of the dogs was greatly reduced. Over a period of 22 months, widespread arterial thromboses developed in these two lungs. The thrombotic lesions were comparable to those which develop in human beings with severe pulmonic valvular stenosis or atresia. Hypoxemia and polycythemia have often been implicated in the development of these lesions. Our study demonstrates that such lesions can be induced in the dog by reduction in pulmonary blood flow alone since hypoxemia and polycythemia were absent in our experimental animals.