shunt

1. a railway point

2. Electronics a low-resistance conductor connected in parallel across a device, circuit, or part of a circuit to provide an alternative path for a known fraction of the current

3. Med a channel that bypasses the normal circulation of the blood: a congenital abnormality or surgically induced

4. Brit informal a collision which occurs when a vehicle runs into the back of the vehicle in front

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

shunt

[shənt]

(civil engineering)

To shove or turn off to one side, as a car or train from one track to another.

(electricity)

A precision low-value resistor placed across the terminals of an ammeter to increase its range by allowing a known fraction of the circuit current to go around the meter. Also known as electric shunt.

To place one part in parallel with another.

parallel

(electromagnetism)

A piece of iron that provides a parallel path for magnetic flux around an air gap in a magnetic circuit.

(medicine)

A vascular passage by which blood is diverted from its normal circulatory path; frequently it is a surgical passage created between two blood vessels, but it may also be an anatomical feature.

shunt

To divert, switch or bypass.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Shunt

an electrical or magnetic conductor connected in parallel with an electric or magnetic circuit to divert part of the electric current or magnetic flux when it is undesirable or impossible to pass all the current or flux through the circuit. For example, when a shunt is used to extend the measuring range of an ammeter, the current I_x being measured is divided between the shunt and the ammeter in inverse proportion to their respective resistances, R_s and R_A; in this case I_x = I_A (1 + R_A/R_S) = I_Ak_s, where I_A is the value of the current as determined from the ammeter readings and k_s is the shunting factor. For convenience in making current measurements, the resistance of the shunt is chosen so that k_s is equal to 10,100, or 1000.

Shunts are manufactured in the form of plates, bands, and wires, primarily of manganin or constantan (for electrical shunts) or of a soft magnetic material (for magnetic shunts).

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References in periodicals archive

Placement of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt via the left hepatic vein under sonographic guidance in a patient with right hemihepatectomy.

Use of transabdominal ultrasound-guided transjugular portal vein puncture on radiation dose in transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt formation

Ganguli, "Reduction in portal venous pressure by transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt for treatment of hemorrhagic stomal varices," American Journal of Roentgenology, vol.

Direct Percutaneous Embolization of Peristomal Ileostomy Varices in an Emergency Setting

Intrahepatic portosystemic shunts are rare vascular abnormalities that may incidentally be detected in asymptomatic patients.

An unusual case of intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt

Portopulmonary hypertension secondary to congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunt with heterotaxy and polysplenia: A cause of sudden death in an infant.

An Infant with Abernethy Malformation Associated with Heterotaxy and Pulmonary Hypertension

Damiano et al., "Neoadjuvant transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt: a solution for extrahepatic abdominal operation in cirrhotic patients with severe portal hypertension," Journal of the American College of Surgeons, vol.

Liver Cirrhosis/Severe Fibrosis Is a Risk Factor for Anastomotic Leakage after Colorectal Surgery

Head pressing can be a sign of a liver shunt, also called portosystemic shunt. A liver shunt is a blood vessel that bypasses the liver and prevents blood from being detoxified.

Don't ignore extended head pressing: it differs from playful nudging and can indicate a problem, often neurologic, requiring immediate care

The patient had an extensive and complex medical history that included non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, now in remission; an illness diagnosed by some as POEMS syndrome (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, circulating M protein, and skin changes) and by other physicians as Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia; hepatic cirrhosis with a TIPS procedure (transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt), a TIPS revision, and at least one episode of hepatic encephalopathy; systemic arterial hypertension; diabetes mellitus; and mild chronic renal insufficiency.

Wide-QRS tachycardias

Endoscopic band ligations were done in oesophageal variceal patients who were successfully managed, while 5(20%) patients required portosystemic shunt surgeries.

Congenital hepatic fibrosis: clinical presentation, laboratory features and management at a tertiary care hospital of Lahore

(8) Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS), selective embolization, or surgical shunt solutions should be considered in cases of recurrent bleeding varices.

Bleeding due to ectopic varices in a urinary diversion: a multidisciplinary diagnostic and therapeutic challenge

Bleeding gastric varices should be treated with octreotide and balloon tamponade followed with either a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt or surgery.

Endocrine carcinoma of the pancreatic tail exhibiting gastric variceal bleeding

[6] When biliary intervention is required, it is generally recommended that a portosystemic shunt (PSS) be performed before the hepaticojejunostomy to avoid the risk of major haemorrhage from the abundant network of venous collaterals around the common bile duct.

Single-stage definitive surgical treatment for portal biliopathy