Pulmonary Branches Research Articles

GENEVA

<h3>Postoperative Pulmonary Complications</h3> Drs. Perrier and Charles Saloz recently discussed postoperative pulmonary complications at a meeting of the Geneva Medical Society. The frequency of pulmonary complications is about 7 per cent after abdominal operations, and there is a mortality of 30 per cent. Pulmonary embolus is rare in operations on the neck and limbs, but occurs frequently in operations undertaken between the diaphragm and the perineum. The lungs react by an area of congestion, infarct, gangrene, pneumonia or bronchopneumonia, processes that may be slight or very serious. Many factors have been invoked in the etiology of these complication: first of all, ether narcosis and aspiration pneumonia; yet the same percentage is to be found following local anesthesia. Lesions of the abdominal vagus are supposed to cause neuritis, which in turn reacts on the pulmonary branches of this nerve. Both causes are certain, but they are simply adjuvant; the primal factor

Variations in the response of different arteries to blood serum and plasma

Recent work by Brodie, Sollmann, and O'Connor has shown that the blood contains substances acting on the vasomotor apparatus other than suprarenin. Even before the work of these investigators it had been noticed by Stevens and Lee that the use of defibrinated blood for the perfusion of isolated organs was often unsatisfactory because of the gradual diminution in outflow. This was not investigated thoroughly until 1900 by Brodie. He observed that the injection of blood serum into the jugular vein of a cat caused an immediate fall in blood pressure. The cat's own serum was as efficient in this respect as the serum of any other animal. The cat, however, is the only animal which responds in this manner, for Brodie's experiments were negative on the dog and rabbit. The mechanism in this case appears to be a reflex inhibition of the vasomotor center from excitation of the pulmonary branches of the vagus. The importance of Brodie's work lies in the fact that he was the first to show that plasma and serum are not identical in their physiological activities, for, whereas the effect just described is produced by serum, plasma is entirely inactive. The process of clotting liberates some substance to which this action is to be attributed. It was probably these experiments of Brodie which guided O'Connor in the analysis of the constrictor effect produced by blood serum on the hind limbs of the frog. He was able to show that the constriction produced by serum is not entirely due to its suprarenin content. Another substance comes into play which causes constriction and which is present only in the serum. We have investigated the vasomotor effect of plasma and serum in different vessels of the body, especially in regard to their mode of action.