THIS horrifying video reveals the shocking reality of what years of smoking can do to your lungs.
The clip, which is being widely shared on social media, shows a set of lungs which have been completely blackened by tar build up.
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Dr Chen Jingyu received the organs donated by a 52-year-old who had chain smoked for 30 years before he died.
But his team at Wuxi People’s Hospital in China had to reject them because of their shocking condition.
They had been heavily blackened due to decades of tobacco residue accumulation, and are far from the pink colour expected from healthy lungs.
Dr Chen, who is a leading lung transplant surgeon and also vice president of the facility, said the donor – believed to be male – had opted to donate his organs before his death.
However, the medic quickly realised after harvesting that they would not be able to give the lungs to a patient in need on the waiting list, citing issues such as lung calcification, bullous lung disease and pulmonary emphysema – all thought to be the result of three decades of smoking.
Doc’s warning
Using the hashtag “jieyan” – Mandarin for 2quit smoking” – Dr Chen wrote: “Many smokers in this country have lungs which look like this.
“Our team decided to reject these lungs for transplant.
“If you’re a heavy smoker, your lungs may not be accepted even if you choose to donate them after death.
“Look at these lungs – do you still have the courage to smoke?”
Look at these lungs – do you still have the courage to smoke?
Dr Chen Jingyu
Dr Chen later told local media: “The patient didn’t undergo a CT scan before his death. He was declared brain dead, and his lungs were donated shortly after that.
“Initial oxygenation index tests were OK, but when we harvested the organs, we realised we wouldn’t be able to use them.
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“We Chinese love smoking. It would be impractical to say that we wouldn’t accept the lungs of all smokers, but there are strict standards.
“These include lungs under 60 years of age in a patient who has only recently been declared medically dead; minor infections in the lungs and relatively clean chest X-rays are also acceptable.
“If the above conditions are met, we would consider transplanting the lungs.”
Shocking stats
According to a 2018 study by China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 26.6 percent of the country’s population above the age of 15 are smokers.
In 2017, the World Health Organization reported that worldwide tobacco use causes 7 million deaths per year.
Last year, a shocking video showing a set of healthy lungs next to diseased organs from a smoker was circulated online.
On one side, a pair of bright red, healthy lungs – taken from someone who has never smoked before.
Next to the prime specimen, a grossly bigger set of lungs, that are black and almost resemble a pile of charcoal.
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Smokers are at greater risk of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which affects the lungs and countless other cancers.
Puffing on fags causes around 90 per cent of deaths from lung cancer, around 80 per cent of deaths from COPD and 17 per cent of deaths from heart disease.
Studies have shown blokes who smoke throughout their lives die 10 years earlier than their non-smoking counterparts.
