Arteriovenous Shunts in the Human Lung.

Abstract

Arteriovenous shunts, many times the accepted diameter of capillaries, were demonstrated in isolated human lungs with little or no pulmonary pathology, by the passage of glass spheres from the pulmonary artery to or through the pulmonary veins. Injn. of these vessels with radio-paque media, liquid latex or vinyl acetate and making roentgeno-grams, dissections, or macerations of the specimens indicate that the shunts are located at the apex or and within the lobular subdivisions of the lung as well as within the visceral pleura.