A cadaveric study on morphological variations of fissures and lobes in the human lungs and its clinical significance

Abstract

Background: Knowledge of the anatomy and variations of the major fissures are essential to recognize pulmonary abnormalities, for segmental lung resection and radiological interpretations. Objective: To study the morphological variations of fissures and lobes in the human cadaveric lungs. Materials and Methods: One hundred specimens of formalin-fixed adult lungs of unknown gender were studied and the following parameters were measured bilaterally: (a) presence or absence of complete or incomplete fissure, (b) presence of accessory fissure, and (c) length of fissures. The observations and measurements were recorded, compiled, and tabulated and the result was compared with the other studies. Results: Length of oblique fissure was 29.36 [+ or -] 5.61cm with range of 17.9 - 42.0 cm on the right side and 26.81 [+ or -] 8.18 cm with range of 10.8–38.9 cm on the left side. Length of horizontal fissure was 10.2 [+ or -] 8.4 cm with range of 6.1–12.8 cm on the right side. Oblique fissure was complete in 84.0% cases on the right side and was in 82.0% cases on the right side. It was incomplete or absent in 16% (R) and 18% (L) cases. Horizontal fissure was complete in 74% and incomplete or absent in 26% of cases. Accessory fissure was found in a total of eight lung specimens. Conclusions: The knowledge of anatomy of fissures of the lung provides information on lobar anatomy with variations. The present study result and its comparison with other researches confirmed that lobar architecture is not constant. It emphasizes its usefulness in the diagnostic and surgical field.