Suja Mary Jacob & Minnie Pillay

The proposed aim of the study was to elucidate the variations of the lung fissures and to correlate their importance in clinics. The study was conducted on 48 lung specimens, 30 right and 18 left, obtained from the cadavers of South Indian origin. Among the right-sided lungs, 2 specimens showed absence of horizontal fissure, and the remaining 25 showed incomplete horizontal fissure. Oblique fissure was incomplete in 15 lungs and one lung showed absence of oblique fissure. An accessory fissure was observed in 4 lungs. Among the left sided lungs, the oblique fissure was incomplete in 7 lungs. The presence of an accessory fissure was found in 5 lungs. With the development of radiological and endoscopic techniques and the advancement of pulmonary surgery, the knowledge of morphological variations of lung fissures is of utmost importance to clinicians to correctly locate the bronchopulmonary segment during pulmonary lobectomy, and for radiologists to correctly interpret X-rays and CT scans.

KEY WORDS: Oblique fissure; Horizontal fissure; Accessory fissure.

JACOB, S. M. & PILLAY, M. Variations in the inter-lobar fissures of lungs obtained from cadavers of South Indian origin. Int. J. Morphol., 31(2):497-499, 2013.