Arteriovenous Shunts in Cirrhotic Patients Studied with Human Serum Albumin Macroaggregates Tagged with I¹³¹ (MAA¹³¹I)

Abstract

Experiences with injection of human serum albumin macroaggregates (MAA¹³¹I) in some afferent vessels of pulmonary, peripheral, and visceral circulations of cirrhotic patients have demonstrated the presence of arteriovenous shunts greater than 25 microns. Particularly demonstrative are the observations concerning the pulmonary circulation of 22 cirrhotic patients. Comparison of the radioactivity curves obtained in cirrhotic patients with those of controls shows the validity of the method used. More extensive studies are requested to achieve a more complete understanding of intrasplenic, mesenteric, and intrahepatic anastomoses in controls and in cirrhotic patients.

Key-words:

• Arterio-venous shunts
• isotopes
• liver
• liver cirrhosis

Notes

*Paper presented at the 2nd Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, 22-23 September 1967, Gothenburg (Sweden).