Effect of selective embolization of various sized pulmonary arteries in dogs

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Abstract
Pulmonary embolism was produced in 30 closed-chest 8-kg dogs with polystyrene spheres, glass beads, or blood clots of precise graded size. The sizes matched selectively the internal diameter of pulmonary arteries from lobar branches (5–6 mm) down to atrial arteries (0.17 mm). Emboli were injected into the right atrium until the pressure in the pulmonary artery rose 5–10 mm Hg. The number of emboli of a given size required to produce this incipient pulmonary hypertension was compared with the number of vessels of that same size as determined from the literature as well as by postmortem injection with Schlesinger mass. The number of emboli bore a constant relation to the number of vessels of that same size. With each size, the majority of vessels had to be occluded before pulmonary hypertension appeared. This was true even in the absence of anesthesia. The results support the thesis that mechanical blockade rather than vasoconstriction is the mechanism by which pulmonary hypertension is produced by emboli occluding pulmonary arterial (as opposed to arteriolar) vessels.

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