Measurements of the normal pulmonary arteries in adults

Abstract

The presence of di latation of the right descending pulmonary artery is a reliable roentgenologic sign of pulmonary h ypertension, though no linear correlation ex ists between pulmona ry arte r y widths and pulmonar y arte r y prcss ure.And so, at t hc first , the author measurcd the r ight descending pulmonary a rtcry on both Înspirat-ory and cxpiratory chest roentgenograms of 200 normal male adults and 200 normal female a dults, using Chang' s method , to obtain normal va lue of measurements in Koreans .The res ults were as fo llows:1. ln males, the range of the right descending pulmonary artery measurements was 9-16 mm. in inspira tion and 8-15 mm . in expiration. The mean inspiratory measurement was 14.0mm. .as compared to 12. 1 mm. for the expiratory measurement. The range of difference between inspiratory and expiratory measurements was 1-3mm. (Imm. in 44 cases, 2mm. in 138 cases, and 3mm. in 18 cases).The mean difference was 1.9 mm.2. ln females, the range of measurement of the right descending pulmonary artery was 9-16 mm.with a mean measurement of 12.9 mm . in inspiration . The expiratory measurements showed a range of 8-14 mm . , with a mean measurement of 11.1mm. The range of difference between inspiratory and expiratory measurements was 1-3 mm. (l mm, in 62cases, 2mm .. in 114 cases, and 3mm. in 24 cases) .The mean difference was 1.8 mm.3. There are apparcnt changcs in the measurement of the right descending pulmonary artery during respirat ion in normal adults. The s ize of the right desccnding pulmonary artery increases during inspira tion and decreases dur ing expiration. There were 1-3 mm. differences between inspiratory and ex piratory measurements. ln 252 cases (63 %) , the difference was 2 mm .