Superior lingular bronchial tree at a glance
- What it is
- The superior lingular bronchial tree is the segmental bronchus and its branches supplying a bronchopulmonary segment.
- Location
- It supplies the superior lingular segment of the left upper lobe, which corresponds to the right middle lobe.
- Function
- It carries air to and from the alveoli of its bronchopulmonary segment, which is a functionally separate unit.
- Body system
- Respiratory · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA68226 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Each segment has its own segmental bronchus and pulmonary artery branch, and is separated by connective tissue septa.
- The lingula is the tongue-like part of the left upper lobe.
- It is segment S4 of the left lung.
Clinical relevance
Segmental anatomy lets surgeons remove a diseased segment (segmentectomy) and helps localise lung lesions.
Structures next to the superior lingular bronchial tree
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Fifth rib · skeletal
- Pectoralis minor · muscular
- Inferior lingular bronchial tree · respiratory
- Pectoral branch of thoraco-acromial artery · cardiovascular
- Superior pulmonary vein · cardiovascular
- Fourth rib · skeletal
- Serratus anterior · muscular
- Lateral thoracic artery · cardiovascular
- Circumflex branch of coronary artery · cardiovascular
- Sixth rib · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Superior lingular bronchial tree (FMA68226). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §22.1 Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System. 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.
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.