Abstract
Blood flow quantification through intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses (IPAVA) is vital because IPAVA blood flow (QIPAVA) prevents gas exchange and can provide a pathway for emboli to bypass the pulmonary microcirculation and provoke myocardial infarction, transient ischemic attack (TIA), or stroke. Some current techniques allow only an approximate estimate and present technical evaluation difficulties that can compromise the result. To overcome the limitations and obtain an accurate detection of QIPAVA, it is necessary to isolate the fundamental parameters of gas exchange associated with chemical-physical laws that regulate them and develop a specific algebraic model. Therefore, literal equations were elaborated and some experimental data, obtained through noninvasive and easy-to-use methods, were entered. These equations quantified the pulmonary blood flow that permits gas exchange and the one that does not (QIPAVA or generally shunt). Because they are accurate and based on the law of conservation of mass, the use of these equations will allow a general advance in understanding the consequences of QIPAVA on physiological and pathophysiological processes.