How to Use This Book

Most textbooks that teach lobectomy lose the forest in the trees; or the pulmonary artery in the parenchyma. Key anatomy is obscured by diagrams with overwhelming detail, or live operative pictures that are difficult to identify. The images in this text are oversimplified by design. Our goal is to show the anatomy as it normally lies and how it changes after each step of the procedure. Patients in the operating room will often look different from what is drawn here; but the relationships will be the same. By understanding these relationships, surgeons will be able to operate with confidence even when the anatomy may not be readily visible.