Fir Tree Grows in Man's Lung?

Doctors in Russia thought that 28-year-old Artyom Sidorkin had cancer. He was a smoker who came to doctors coughing up blood and complaining of chest pain. An x-ray revealed a mass in Sidorkin's lung, and he was scheduled for surgery. When surgeons biopsied the "tumor," however, it turned out to be a small plant.

Dr. Vladimir Kamashev identified the shoot to be a young fir tree. Kamashev began a biopsy of the tumor before removing it because the removal would include a large portion of Sidorkin's lung. He expressed surprise on seeing that the problem was plant matter.

Kamashev says he believed he was hallucinating. "I asked my assistant to have a look: 'Come and see this--we've got a fir tree here.' He nodded in shock. I blinked three times as I was sure I was seeing things."

Sidorkin is back at work and feeling better, but doesn't have any clue as to how the fir tree seedling got into his lung. His doctors theorize that Sidorkin inhaled a fir tree bud which grew into a 5-centimeter tree, and that the needles punctured capillaries, which caused Sidorkin to cough up blood.

Some biologists are not so sure about Sidorkin's story. Fir trees are evergreen conifers that disperse seeds as their cones disintegrate. Like most other plants, a fir tree needs certain conditions to grow, including appropriate temperature, nutrient-rich soil, water, air, and sunlight. While Sidorkin's sapling had some of the right conditions, it did not have sunlight, and should not have been able to grow into a green-leaved shoot, say experts.

Olga Baranova, head of the Biology and Plant Ecology department at Udmurt State University, told National Geographic that it was "impossible" that the fir tree could have grown inside Sidorkin's body. She cited the growth conditions for fir trees. Professor Peter Kotanen, a plant ecology researcher at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, told CBC News that he thinks the story is a hoax: "I don't see how it could get anywhere near that size without photosynthesis [...] it looks pretty healthy, which I wouldn't expect. Most plants that grow in the dark lack chlorophyll, and are very yellow and unhappy looking."

Professor Sean Thomas, Canada research chair in forests and environmental change at the University of Toronto, told CBC News that the temperature inside Sidorkin's lungs wouldn't have prompted the growth of a fir tree. He also stated that the x-ray of the plant didn't match what he's seen in pictures of the biopsy material. Observers note that the fir tree sapling could have been aspirated accidentally and not noticed for some time, or the tree could have fallen into the surgical cavity during the procedure.

Sources:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090415/tod-fir-tree-found-growing-inside-man-s-870a197.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090415-russia-firman-video-ap.html?source=rss

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/14/fir-tree-lung.html

http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/04/russian-man-did-not-aspirate-fir-tree.html