SPARE PARTS

THe organs that we can live without. This week: A lung OUR lungs absorb oxygen from air into the bloodstream and let carbon dioxide out when we exhale, called respiration.

But each year in the UK around 300 patients have a whole lung removed — a surgical procedure called a pneumonectomy — because of a tumour in the lung.

The remaining lung expands to fill the space and takes on the respiration, but patients tend to get breathless more quickly when they exercise.

‘Most patients can have a reasonably good quality of life with one lung,’ explains Professor Mark Britton, a retired respiratory specialist who is vice president of the British Lung Foundation.

He says it can improve symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (where breathing becomes difficult because the airways have narrowed). That’s because as the remaining lung expands, the airway widens, letting more oxygen in and carbon dioxide out.