ABSTRACT
A study of the effects of cervical vagotomy on pulmonary function in two groups of dogs was done: the first group had been vagotomized and submitted to spontaneous breathing and the second had been vagotomized and submitted to mechanical ventilation. pH, partial pressure of carbonic acid in arterial blood (PaCO2), partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood (PaO2), plasmatic bicarbonate (HCO-3), alveolar arterial oxygen difference (P(A-a)O2) while the patients breathed room air and 100% O2 and pulmonary shunting didn't change after vagotomy. There was no difference between these two groups. Hemodynamic parameters like oxygen content difference (C(a-v)O2) between arterial and venous blood, heart hate (FC), mean blood pressure (Pam) and capillary hydrostatic pressure (Pcp) didn't change after vagotomy. None of these parameters were different between the two groups.