LUNG EDEMA FOLLOWING BILATERAL VAGOTOMY

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Abstract
In adult rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits, lung changes following bilateral vagotomy were reinvestigated. Pulmonary edema and congestion leading to death in a period of hrs. were found following this procedure, as reported by other investigators. When tracheotomy was done, and care taken to maintain a free air-way, the only change noted was congestion, comparable in extent to that seen in the control animals. Cutting one vagus below the recurrent laryngeal nerve, and the other in the neck, permitted prolonged survival. Animals sacrificed one to two days after this procedure showed no lung changes. Cutting both recurrent laryngeal nerves did not reproduce the marked pulmonary edema and rapid death seen following bilateral cervical vagotomy. Bilateral denervation might predispose to pulmonary edema, but alone, cannot produce it.

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