A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRACHEOBRONCHIAL PATTERN USING LUMINAL PLASTINATION

Background: The tracheobronchial pattern of human lungs is well known. An attempt was made to compare the pattern with that of sheep lung using luminal plastination of sheep lung. Several similarities were observed between the two patterns, due to which, the sheep lung serves as an ideal experimental model to study the effect of treatment in several human airway diseases. Objective: The first objective was to compare the two tracheobronchial patterns. Moreover the study also provided an opportunity to the authors to attempt a luminal plastination. The final objective is to highlight the various advantages of advances in luminal plastination in current medical education and research. Materials and methods: Silicon sealant was injected into the tracheobroncheal tree of sheep after thoroughly cleaning the lungs with saline. After the sealant solidified the surrounding lung tissue was destroyed by boiling. Thus a luminal cast was prepared. Result: The result was a splendid luminal cast of the sheep lung showing its tracheobronchial pattern. Conclusion: It was observed that the tracheobronchial division pattern showed significant similarities and a single variation. Therefore the sheep lung is an ideal experimental model and luminal plastination can be applied to comparative anatomical study to identify more such models.