Precapillary Systemic-pulmonary Anastomoses

In normal lungs the bronchial arteries communicate with the pulmonary arteries through the capillary bed surrounding the respiratory bronchioles (Miller, 1947). Whether precapillary communications exist in normal lungs is open to question, but their development under abnormal circumstances is generally agreed. Liebow, Hales, and Bloomer (1959) have summarized the two main circumstances under which they have been found: (a) obstruction and diminished flow in the pulmonary arteries, and (b) formation of new tissue in the lung. Many different anatomical forms of systemicpulmonary anastomoses can be found in the lung, but hitherto only a few of these have been described in detail owing to the limitations of the techniques used. Cast preparations have been of great value in identifying the larger communications, but this method has two disadvantages. Firstly, histological verification of anastomoses is impossible, and close apposition of minute vessels may be indistinguishable from their actual continuity. Secondly, the histological study of vessel wall structure and the surrounding tissue is denied. Angiographic studies of whole lungs have been of limited value because systemicpulmonary anastomoses cannot be distinguished from superimposition of non-communicating vessels. In the present work a microradiographic technique has been developed to study the finer branches of the bronchial arteries and their sites of communication with the pulmonary vascular bed. The findings have been verified by serial sections.

[1]  J. R. Shah DIFFUSE INTERSTITIAL FIBROSIS OF THE LUNGS. , 1965, Indian journal of medical sciences.

[2]  J. Edwards,et al.  The Pathology of Hypertensive Pulmonary Vascular Disease: A Description of Six Grades of Structural Changes in the Pulmonary Arteries with Special Reference to Congenital Cardiac Septal Defects , 1958, Circulation.

[3]  D. S. Short Post-mortem pulmonary arteriography with special reference to the study of pulmonary hypertension. , 1956, The Journal of the Faculty of Radiologists. Faculty of Radiologists.

[4]  A. Golden,et al.  Diffuse interstitial fibrosis of lungs; a form of diffuse interstitial angiosis and reticulosis of the lungs. , 1953, A.M.A. archives of internal medicine.

[5]  L. Cudkowicz,et al.  The Blood Supply of Malignant Pulmonary Neoplasms * , 1953, Thorax.

[6]  L. Cudkowicz,et al.  The Bronchial Arteries in Pulmonary Emphysema * , 1953, Thorax.

[7]  L. Cudkowicz,et al.  Observations on the Normal Anatomy of the Bronchial Arteries , 1951, Thorax.

[8]  F. Cockett,et al.  A Comparison of the Role of the Bronchial Arteries in Bronchiectasis and in Experimental Ligation of the Pulmonary Artery , 1951, Thorax.

[9]  A. Liebow,et al.  Enlargement of the bronchial arteries, and their anastomoses with the pulmonary arteries in bronchiectasis. , 1949, The American journal of pathology.

[10]  R. D. Wright The blood supply of abnormal tissues in the lungs , 1938 .

[11]  Miriam Miller,et al.  THE RÔLE OP THE DUAL PULMONARY CIRCULATION IN VARIOUS PATHOLOGIC CONDITIONS OF THE LUNGS , 1938 .

[12]  M. Verloop The arteriae bronchiales and their anastomoses with the arteria pulmonalis in the human lung; a micro-anatomical study. , 1948, Acta anatomica.