Kuni C C, Ducret R P, Nakhleh R E, Boudreau R J
Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic, Minneapolis 55455.
Clin Nucl Med. 1993 Apr;18(4):313-7. doi: 10.1097/00003072-199304000-00009.
Thirty ventilation-perfusion pulmonary scintigraphic studies were performed in 13 patients who had undergone unilateral lung transplantation. Ventilation-perfusion mismatch (ventilation better than perfusion) was judged absent, mild, moderate, or severe in the transplanted and native lungs. Ventilation-perfusion mismatch was significantly worse in the transplanted lungs (p < .0001). Findings of lung biopsies and chest roentgenograms failed to correlate with the severity of ventilation-perfusion mismatch. Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction appears to be significantly impaired in most unilateral lung transplants; the mechanism for this impairment is unclear.
