“Is it possible to live with one lung?”
My aunt needs to have her lung removed at the end of this month, but I also felt that you needed both lungs to survive. How is it possible to live with only one lung? Can someone with one lung live just a healthy life as someone with two?
8 Answers
It is possible to live with one lung. There are circumstances, usually lung cancer that require removal of the entire lung, but this is quite uncommon. A patient with one lung can maintain a reasonable lifestyle, but may require oxygen with exertion or at night.
If the one lung is normal, yes.
Yes
Yes. One lung is sufficient provided it is healthy.
The short answer is that you can live with one lung. The long answer is it can be complicated depending upon the patient's underlying lung function and heart function. I am sure your aunt's physicians did the appropriate tests to prove she can do well with one lung.
Yes, you can live normally with one lung. If you have not destroyed your lungs with smoking or pneumonia, etc. Of course, you will not have reserve anymore.
Usually before doing any kind of lung surgery, various tests are done to test the lung capacity. In many instances, if the lung function is adequate, one could live with one lung.
You can live with one lung if the other lung has good function. Pre-operative pulmonary function studies are essential to know if you can tolerate a pneumonectomy (removal of an entire lung). Right lung is bigger than the left so removal of left lung may be slightly better tolerated than removal of the right lung.
