Lungs are remarkable organs that continuously achieve amazing feats, which they do so well that we take them for granted, except when their function is diminished. It all happens in a space inside your chest, divided in two and reduced by the presence of the heart, the great vessels and the esophagus.
With Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg having recently returned to the court after surgery for lung cancer, I have been asked a lot of questions about the lungs, as I am a professor of anatomy.
Many lung cancers are not operable, but to treat some types of lung disease, such as early stages of lung cancer, a surgical treatment called a lobectomy may be performed. In this operation, a lobe of a lung (your right lung has three lobes, your left lung has two) is removed. Afterward, the other lobes expand to adapt and compensate for the missing tissue, allowing the lungs to work as well or better than they did before.
In addition to being highly efficient organs, the lungs are beautifully complex in their structure. I can’t help but wonder: If we appreciated them more, would we be more proactive in taking care of them?
