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Frederic Eldridge, M.D.

AMA Arch Intern Med. 1960;105(5):665-667.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The concept that abnormalities of the pulmonary membrane might alter its permeability to respiratory gases and thereby lead to disturbances in the diffusion of oxygen across the membrane was suggested many years ago, and it was suspected that impaired oxygen diffusion might be the main cause of cyanosis in some patients with pulmonary disease. With the development, more than a decade ago, of practical techniques for measuring the diffusion characteristics of the lungs, such abnormalities were indeed demonstrated in these patients.

In 1951, Austrian and his colleagues 1 introduced the term "alveolar-capillary block" syndrome to identify a group of clinical and physiological features found in some patients with diffuse pulmonary disease who had evidence of impaired pulmonary oxygen diffusion. The clinical features which were considered to be characteristic of the syndrome included progressive dyspnea, tachypnea at rest and after exercise, cyanosis after exercise, fine rales at the lung bases, lack . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Stanford University School of Medicine 304 Pasteur Dr. Stanford, Calif.

From the Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

Footnotes
Received for publication July 6, 1959.

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