Fig. 1

Typical 3-dimensional reconstructed images of the left lung prepared from 1-mm high-resolution computed tomography slices. Blue tubes indicate the pulmonary veins; red, the pulmonary arteries; yellow, bronchi. The image can be rotated by 360 degrees freely, allowing the pulmonary arteries and veins, and the bronchi to be reproduced, moved, and erased. These models can be used to simulate surgery. The upper row shows a case in which the lingular pulmonary arteries are running from the pars interlobaris, and the pulmonary vein branching patterns is the apical vein dominant type. The lower row shows a case in which the lingular pulmonary arteries are running from pars mediastinalis, and the pulmonary vein branching patterns is central vein dominant type. The left columns show the bronchi, and pulmonary arteries and veins; the middle column, the pulmonary arteries and bronchi; the right column the pulmonary arteries and veins