Systemic to Pulmonary Bronchial Blood Flow in Heart Failure

The aim of this study was to measure systemic to pulmonary blood flow from bronchial circulation (Qbr[s-p]) in patients with heart failure. In the absence of pulmonary and coronary flows, Qbr(s-p) is the volume of blood accumulating in the left side of the heart; Qbr(s-p) was measured during total cardiopulmonary bypass for coronary artery surgery; bronchial blood was vented through a cannula introduced into the left side of the heart and its volume was measured. Patients were subdivided according to the presence for more than 6 months (group I, n=6) or less than 2 months (group 2, n=7), or the absence of heart failure (group 2, n=15). Qbr(s-p) was 89 ± 18* mL/min, 27±3, 22±2, in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively (*=p