Wednesday, October 31, 2012

This week in ranting: the lung is a noob

Exams on Monday - heart, lungs and kidneys.

The more I learn about disease processes in the lungs, the more incredulous I get. Simply put, the lung is such a noob at fighting infections. I mean look at it. Almost every insult to the lung ultimately results in irreversible fibrosis and some weakass exudative stuff going on in the alveoli which ends up doing more harm than good anyway. All the reactive immune responses in the lung end up causing harmful granulomas. Every kind of terrible lesion seems to happen in the lungs. Pus? We got it. Abscess? Ooh we have multiple kinds of abscesses. Which one would you like? Necrosis? Again, such a wide variety to choose from! Unresolved, persistent infections? Check. 

You would think the body would do a better job at protecting such a vital organ that literally keeps you alive by dumping out CO2 for O2 and by sweeping out all manner of gunk that gets in. 

That's my rant for the week. 

2 comments:

  1. If you persistently expose it to carcinogens ON PURPOSE (i.e. smoking and, like, working in mines full of coal, silica, and asbestos), I think it's totally cool for the lung to say, "I quit this bitch" and flame out in honeycomb glory.

    Also, pus/abscess/chronic infections aren't the lungs' failing, it's the immune system...yo. Why don't you hate on idiot macrophages instead?

    Better yet, don't hate on the lungs and call out the heart and kidney for being not exposed to outside environment/such pussies.

    I actually don't think the lungs are that interesting/cool/smart, but I'm not going to let them be cyberbullied by you :P

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  2. Please. Macrophages are among the smartest cells in the body. Such versatility and resilience in the face of great calamities. Steamrolling and gobbling their way to victory. Complete beasts. Those Toll-like Receptors - oh! Now mast cells, they are complete idiots. Degranulate at the slightest provocation, causing such terrible inconvenience.

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