1241 Pulmonary Function Following Acute Meconium Insufflation

Abstract

W e t e s t e d t h e hypothesis t h a t n e t L+R d u c t shunt c o n t r i b u t e s t o PBF surge i n premature lambs during t h e f i r s t hour of l i f e (Pediat. Res., 8:433, 1974) and t o high PBF seen l a t e r i n lambs with severe HMD ( P e d i a t . Res., 5:393, 1975). T o t a l PBF, r i g h t v e n t r i c u l a r output (RVO) and d u c t shunt were measured d u r i n g f i r s t hours of l i f e i n 1 lamb with and 1 without HMD. At 129-130d g e s t a t i o n , a p r e -c a l i b r a t e d electromagnetic flow transducer with non-occlusive zero was implanted on t h e main pulmonary a r t e r y (PA) t o measure RVO; a s i m i l a r transducer was implanted on t h e p o s t d u c t a l p o r t i o n of t h e common PA t o measure PBF. Duct shunt was c a l c u l a t e d a s t h e d i f f e r e n c e between PBF and RVO.