Document Type
Letter to the Editor
Publication Date
10-18-2012
Journal
The New England Journal of Medicine
Volume
367
Issue
16
First Page
1566
Last Page
1567
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.1056/NEJMc1209904
Abstract
A 33-year-old woman underwent a right-sided pneumonectomy in 1995 for treatment of a lung adenocarcinoma. As expected, there was an abrupt decrease in her vital capacity, but unexpectedly, it increased during the subsequent 15 years. Serial computed tomographic (CT) scans showed progressive enlargement of the remaining left lung and an increase in tissue density. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the use of hyperpolarized helium-3 gas showed overall acinar-airway dimensions that were consistent with an increase in the alveolar number rather than the enlargement of existing alveoli, but the alveoli in the growing lung were shallower than in normal lungs. This study provides evidence that new lung growth can occur in an adult human.
Notes
This article was initially published by the Massachusetts Medical Society in the New England Journal of Medicine. It can be accessed on the publisher's website at: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/32631103/nejmoa1203983.pdf;jsessionid=CCD3BC232D913AB379AC30CE49F869E6?sequence=1