How does the body compensate for a pulmonary embolus that occludes a branch of the pulmo-nary artery?
a. Increased bronchial arterial flow to the area
b. Increased cardiac output
c. Pulmonary arteriole and metarteriole vas-odilation
d. Release of prostaglandins to fight inflam-mation
ANS: A
The bronchial and pulmonary circulations share an important compensatory relationship. De-creased pulmonary arterial blood pressure tends to cause an increase in bronchial artery blood flow to the affected area. This minimizes the danger of pulmonary infarction, as sometimes oc-curs when a blood clot (pulmonary embolus) enters the lung.
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