The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 69, 806-815, Copyright © 1975 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Bronchographic and angiologic observations in experimental autotransplantation of a lung or lung lobe
JJ Rabinovich
Roentgenologic examinations were conducted after 260 experimental
autotransplantations of a lung or its lobe in the course of a long-term
dynamic observation (maximum follow-up 4 1/2 years). Accentuation and
indistinctness of the pulmonary pattern were observed in combination with
small focal shadows in the early post-transplant period (up to 15 days) in
dogs with an uneventful course. Dynamic observations (maximum follow-up 4
1/2 years) revealed no changes in the pulmonary tissue and no anatomic or
functional changes in the bronchial tree and vessels. In the late period
after orthotopic and heterotopic autotransplantation of the lower lobe, the
changes were due to impaired topographic interrelations of the thoracic
organs: Removal of the upper lobe of the intact lung into the upper part of
the left pleural cavity. This phenomenon, the so-called mediastinal hernia,
is facilitated by the mobility of the cranial part of the mediastinal
septum in dogs. Heterotopic autotransplantation of the lower lobe in place
of the removed contralateral lung resulted in no shift of the mediastinum
and no changes in the autotransplanted lobe in the late follow-up period.
The signs of a mediastinalhernia were less distinct than after orthotopic
autotransplantation of a lung lobe.
