Abstract
The purpose of the experiment was to determine how much a capsule of fibrous tissue surrounding a pulmonary lobe would compress the lobe by spontaneous contraction, especially when no adhesions existed between the lobe and its environs. The visceral pleura of the lobe was caused to produce the fibrous capsule by the envelopment of the lobe in a loosely fitting sac of foreign material.
Three dogs were anesthetized and operated upon aseptically. The right lower lobe was exposed through an intercostal incision and was wrapped completely in an envelope of thin rubber (2 dogs) or of surgical gauze (1 dog), care being taken that neither the lobe nor the vessels at the hilus were compressed appreciably by the sac, even when the lobe was fully expanded. The chest was then closed, without leaving pneumothorax. The dogs were allowed to survive and were examined roentgenographically from time to time. Sacrifice and autopsy were done 5 months after operation in one case with a rubber sac and 7 months after operation in the other cases.
All 3 dogs recovered from the operation and returned to vigorous health. One with a rubber sac developed a massive accumulation of exudate in the right pleural space and the others showed much smaller accumulations; but the exudate gradually disappeared to a large extent. At autopsy in the cases with rubber sacs, the right lower lobe was found to be still contained within the envelope, which was now much crumpled, and to be reduced to about the size and shape of the 2 terminal segments of a man's finger, smooth and firm. Section showed that the lobe was covered with a heavy fibrous capsule and was composed of grey, densely packed fibrous tissue in which a few completely collapsed bronchi were discernible.
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