DENSITY OF MUSCULARIZED ARTERIES IN THE LUNG - ITS ROLE IN CONGENITAL HEART-DISEASE AND ITS CLINICAL-SIGNIFICANCE

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 107  (1) , 23-28
Abstract
Pulmonary arteries were counted per surface area of lung sections, with a correction for the degree of lung collapse, in 31 subjects who had congenital cardiac defects and pulmonary hypertension. Arterial diameters were also established, as were the degrees of any pulmonary vascular lesions. In comparison with control cases, the density of the smallest muscularized arterioles was significantly increased in those subjects without advanced pulmonary vascular disease. With increasing intimal fibrosis, the number of small arteries decreased. In the presence of severe alterations (e.g., plexiform lesions), the numbers were distinctly reduced. The density of arteries > 100 .mu.m in diameter was hardly affected, independent of the severity of vascular changes. Congenital underdevelopment of the pulmonary arterial tree is apparently uncommon and certainly not the rule in cases of congenital cardiac defects.