Useful Management Information

A shunt is the portion of the cardiac output that passes from one side of the heart to the other without participating in gas exchange. In healthy people it is equivalent to approximately 5% or less of the cardiac output. In disease, right to left shunting of blood may be much larger. The shunt calculation determines the ratio of shunted blood to total perfusion and is reported as a percent of total cardiac output.

Indications:

  • To determine whether right-to-left shunting is the cause of low oxygen in arterial blood (hypoxaemia).
  • Liver transplant work up.

The test is contraindicated in patients for whom administration of high-dose oxygen therapy is contraindicated (i.e. prior exposure to Bleomcyin).

Minimum Referral Criteria

Does your patient meet the minimum referral criteria?
Category Category 1 ((appointment within 30 calendar days))
  • Requires tests within 30 days
Category Category 2 ((appointment within 90 calendar days))
  • Requires tests within 90 days.
Category Category 3 ((appointment within 365 calendar days))
  • Requires tests within 365 days.

Essential Referral Information

  • Reason for referral - what is the clinical question to be answered by performing the test?
  • Infectious status

If a specific test result is unable to be obtained due to access, financial, religious, cultural or consent reasons a Clinical Override may be requested. This reason must be clearly articulated in the body of the referral.

Additional Referral Information

  • No additional referral information
Last updated 27 July 2021

Send Referrals To

Smart Referrals

Not Available

Secure Web Transfer

Not Available

Internal Referrals

Lung Function Lab (E-Blueslips)

Fax

(07) 5687 7894

Post

Lung Function Lab
Gold Coast University Hospital
1 Hospital Boulevard
Southport QLD 4215

Enquiries

(07) 5687 4497

Related HealthPathways

No directly related pathways found

Service Availability

Dr Carl Pahoff
Medical Director Respiratory - Lung Function Laboratory, and Pulmonary Function Tests

Facilities

Gold Coast University Hospital
Robina Hospital

If you would like to send a named referral, please address it to the specialist listed above, who will allocate a suitably qualified specialist to see the patient. Alternatively, you can view a full list of our specialists.

Gold Coast Health - For Clinicians
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