PNEUMONOGRAPHY WITH IODIZED OIL, 40 PER CENT, BY THE BRONCHOSCOPIC METHOD

Abstract

Accurate anatomic studies of the bronchial tree, the result of investigations by the various methods of injection in postmortem specimens, were made many years ago. These methods had many disadvantages. In order to be successful, they usually had to be carried out with a fusible metal. The resulting casts of the bronchial tree were necessarily incomplete. It was impossible to control the rate of injection-flow of this not easily diffusable metal. The postmortem changes in the tissue, the obstruction from accumulated respiratory secretion, as well as the inability to maintain a uniform pressure, were some of the factors that produced what must be considered as an imperfect representation of the bronchial tree. For, although the relationship to the heart and great vessels was in many instances demonstrated, an outline of the pulmonary parenchyma and bony thorax was found to be lacking. Naturally, such studies in the living subject made with