Indigenous Cadaveric Variations in Lung Fissures and Lobes

Abstract

Introduction: Lung fissures are responsible for uniform expansion. These fissures may be complete, incomplete or absent causing lobar variation. A detailed knowledge of variations of classical and accessory fissures is necessary for proper pulmonary radiological interpretation. Patients benefit from accurate assessment of integrity of pulmonary fissures during cardiothoracic surgery as surgeons can perform segmental lung resections and lobectomies safely to have an uncomplicated perioperative outcome. So, the cadaveric study was done to note the morphological variation of the fissures of lung in Pakistan cadaveric population and compare it with the previous study.

Aims & Objectives: To determine the frequency of variations in fissures and lobes of the lungs on cadaveric Pakistani population.

Place and duration of study:   Anatomy Departments of KEMU and AIMC, Lahore. Duration of study was from 2020 to 2022

Material & Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on 160 cadaveric lung specimens from AIMC and KEMU Anatomy Departments. They were preserved in 10% formalin and were studied for morphological details of their lung lobes and fissures. Data was collected and graded using Craig and Walker classification. Data was analysed using SPSS 22 version. p value ? 0.05 was taken as significant

Results: Out of 160, 77% of the left lung and 75% of the right lungs were normal. Among the variations, horizontal fissure had shown to be more variable as compared to oblique fissure .18% of the right-side specimens were shown to have incomplete horizontal fissures and in 4% of the specimen, they were totally absent. 15% of the left side specimen had incomplete oblique fissures whereas only 2% of the right-side specimen had incomplete oblique fissures. Accessory fissures were more common in the left side specimens as compared to the right-side specimens.

Conclusion: Morphological variations do occur in normal population, and they must be kept in mind during radiological and surgical interventions.