Intra-pulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses and pulmonary gas exchange: evaluation by microspheres, contrast echocardiography and inert gas elimination.

ABSTRACT:

Key points

Imaging techniques such as contrast echocardiography suggest that anatomical intra-pulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses (IPAVAs) are present at rest and are recruited to a greater extent in conditions such as exercise. IPAVAs have the potential to act as a shunt, although gas exchange methods have not demonstrated significant shunt in the normal lung. To evaluate this discrepancy, we compared anatomical shunt with 25-µm microspheres to contrast echocardiography, and gas exchange shunt measured by the multiple inert gas elimination technique (MIGET). Intra-pulmonary shunt measured by 25-µm microspheres was not significantly different from gas exchange shunt determined by MIGET, suggesting that MIGET does not underestimate the gas exchange consequences of anatomical shunt.

SUBMITTER: Stickland MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6858494 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature