The changes of pulmonary blood flow in non-ventilated lung during one lung ventilation

Abstract

Objective: A pulmonary artery catheter placement is necessary for intrapulmonary shunt fraction evaluation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility for detecting the changes of regional pulmonary blood flow in non-ventilated lung by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during one-lung ventilation (OLV).

Methods: 22 adult patients for selective thoracic surgery were enrolled in the study. Doppler flow patterns in left upper pulmonary vein (LUPV) were obtained by TEE before switching to right OLV and every 5 min in 30 min OLV period. Systolic peak velocity (Vs), diastolic peak velocity (Vd) and velocity time integral (VTI) were measured respectively.

Results: The VTI of LUPV blood flow pattern decreased significantly 5 min after right OLV. The percent of changes in LUPV blood flow decreased rapidly by 78.4 and 67.7% at OLV 5 min and 10 min, respectively. Then it slowly decreased by 60% at OLV 30 min.

Conclusions: Provides an alternative method to measure the changes of pulmonary blood flow during OLV. The percent changes of regional pulmonary blood flow decreased immediately after OLV, and decreased by 60% at 30 min OLV.