Spatial distribution of pulmonary blood flow in the dog with PEEP ventilation

The effects of mechanical ventilation without and with a positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) of 20 cmH2O and, after hemorrhage, on the spatial distribution of lobar lung blood flow were studied by means of iv injections of radioactive microspheres in supine dogs. The lungs were excised and dried at an inflation pressure of 30 cmH2O. Each lobe was cut into slices. In five slices from each lobe, 30--60 samples were punched out. The activity was measured in a gamma counter. By this means distribution of lobar blood flow could be described three-dimensionally. In dogs awake and spontaneously breathing or anesthetized and mechanically ventilated, blood flow distribution was rather even, except for a vertical gradient. PEEP caused a) a two- to threefold reduction in total lung blood flow, b) a redistribution from the right to the left lung, and c) a redistribution from the core to the periphery of the lung. This pattern of redistribution could not be reproduced by reducing cardiac output by hemorrhage during mechanical ventilation without PEEP.