Density of muscularized arteries in the lung: Its role in congenital heart disease and its clinical significance.
Pulmonary arteries were counted per surface area of lung sections, with a correction for the degree of lung collapse, in 31 subjects who had congenital cardiac defects and pulmonary hypertension. Arterial diameters were also established, as were the degrees of any pulmonary vascular lesions. In comparison with control cases, the density of the smallest muscularized arterioles was significantly increased in those subjects without advanced pulmonary vascular disease. With increasing intimal fibrosis, the number of small arteries decreased. In the presence of severe alterations (eg, plexiform lesions), the numbers were distinctly reduced. The density of arteries larger than 100 micrometer in diameter was hardly affected, independent of the severity of vascular changes. Our results indicate that congenital underdevelopment of the pulmonary arterial tree is uncommon and certainly not the rule in cases of congenital cardiac defects.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001160:Arterioles / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000473:pathology; D007223:Infant; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000473:pathology*