Bronchographic and angiologic observations in experimental autotransplantation of a lung or lung lobe

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.