Pope Francis is a pioneer pope in many ways. He is the first pope named Francis, he is the first pope from Latin America, and the first pope who lived for many years with only one lung.
As quoted by the Associated Press, the 266th pope underwent removal of the lung organ when he was a teenager, allegedly due to infection. At times it may not be as effective as antibiotic treatment right now, especially in dealing with infections.
To protect patients from infection is more severe, the doctor may decide to raise his lungs so the infection does not spread.
"Maybe then the infection is severe, or there could have been an abscess causing bleeding," said Dr. John Belperio, pulmonary expert from The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
"If there is severe bleeding in the lungs, the main thing to do is to perform lung resection or a decision to stop the bleeding," he added.
According to Dr. Ronald Crystal, pulmonary expert from New York Presbyterian, there are many bacteria that can cause infection and serious damage to the lung tissue. Some strains of bacteria such as Staphylococci are the most destructive and can take delicate organs so doctors had no choice but to remove tissue that is damaged so the damage does not spread.
Pneumococcal disease or pneumonia, fungal, or tuberculosis can also cause the initial infection which if not controlled could end up in the lung organ removal.
Another possibility of doing the surgical removal of the lung is a congenital defect. It causes abnormalities in lung tissue or growth of abnormal blood vessels in the bag and the air will inhibit breathing.
Fortunately, the lung has excess capacity so the loss of one lung would not be too serious impact on health.
Barriers can be faced Pope Francis I was it had a lower lung function than those who have two lungs. This means it is more prone to complications of influenza or pneumonia.
However, according to Belperio, Francis Pope is now 76 years old is relatively healthy and surgical removal of the lung does not seem to have a major impact on the ability to perform routine activities.
In a study of animal experiments it is known that the lungs have the ability to regenerate and initial studies in children showed that they were able to regrow lost lung tissue.
"Over the pope could take precautions against infection, such as injection against pneumonia and influenza vaccine routinely, there's no reason it easy to get sick," said Crystal.