Differential blood flow to lungs - any experiences?

[LadyZ13]

Hi everyone, hope you're having good weekends.You might remember that I was diagnosed with a hole in my heart in December 2022 and had the hole closed in June 2023. I saw the ACHD consultant last week and she said that my recent MRI shows my right heart is remodelling positively after the OHS in June, which is good news.

I had the follow up letter today and there was one part I didn't know about: a differential (blood) flow to the right and left lungs shown on the MRI. Left lung only getting 34% of the flow. Googling didn't tell me much. I'm guessing this can happen in congential heart patients where the heart's structure isn't typical? My Oxygen levels have always been fine.

Does anyone here have any experience of differential blood flow to the lungs? I'm assuming they'd have mentioned it to me if it was a concern but it's always a bit unnerving when there's something in a letter that hasn't been explained to you!

Thanks ❤️

[LadyZ13]

Just for future reference, should anyone every stumble across this post having seen a similiar line on their own MRI, I had an email from my consultant today:

Please be reassured that this is not something to be concerned about. It is normal for the right lung to get more blood flow as it has three lobes compared to the left lung that only has two lobes. I will flag any findings of note when I discuss scan results in clinic, I just included this data for completeness.

Who knew?! I certainly didn't and I felt like a total spoon 😅😂