Inferior pulmonary vein at a glance
- What it is
- The inferior pulmonary veins (one per lung) carry oxygenated blood from the lower lobes of the lungs to the left atrium.
- Location
- Each emerges from the lower part of the hilum of the lung, runs obliquely forward and downward and opens into the posterior part of the left atrium. It is formed by the superior segmental vein and the common basal vein.
- Function
- They return oxygenated blood from the lower lobes to the left atrium.
- Body system
- Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA49913 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- There are usually four pulmonary veins, two from each lung. Variants with three or five are common.
- The inferior pulmonary veins lie in the lowest part of the lung hilum and the pulmonary ligament below it.
Structures next to the inferior pulmonary vein
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Levatores costarum breves · muscular
- Levatores costarum longi · muscular
- Posterior leaflet of mitral valve · cardiovascular
- Great cardiac vein · cardiovascular
- Superior pulmonary vein · cardiovascular
- Sixth rib · skeletal
- Descending thoracic aorta · cardiovascular
- Fifth rib · skeletal
- Iliocostalis thoracis · muscular
- Circumflex branch of coronary artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Inferior pulmonary vein (FMA49913). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
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