Sugar Candy Lungs
Joyce John
This precious pair of organs, vacuum-packed within the thoracic cavity, are responsible for oxygenating blood and removing carbon dioxide for the whole body. The volume of the tissues contained within is only about 3 litres but the surface area is approximately enough to cover a tennis court. The lung tissues can be scarred or remodelled by various diseases.
The scarred tissues can be seen using computed tomography. They form ‘artistic patterns’ which can be distinguished from the normal tissue. Here, the sugar-candy-coloured tissues are scarred due to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis - the brighter the pink, the more scarring.