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Upper lobe of right lung: anatomy, location and function

The upper lobe of the right lung is the top of the right lung's three lobes. It lies above the horizontal fissure and above the upper part of the oblique fissure, and forms the apex of the lung. Its air spaces take part in gas exchange. Air reaches it through the right upper lobe bronchus, which leaves the right main bronchus before the bronchus intermedius.

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Highlighted in the model: Upper lobe of right lung. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The default body is an adult male.

Upper lobe of right lung at a glance

Also called
Right superior lobe
What it is
The upper lobe of the right lung is the top of the right lung's three lobes. It lies above the horizontal fissure and above the upper part of the oblique fissure, and forms the apex of the lung.
Location
Its apex rises above the first rib into the root of the neck. The horizontal fissure separates it from the middle lobe, running from the sternum at about the level of the 4th rib (Radiopaedia gives the 4th intercostal space) to where it meets the oblique fissure at the fifth rib in the mid-axillary line. Behind, the oblique fissure separates it from the lower lobe, starting at about the T4 spinous process.
Function
Its air spaces take part in gas exchange. Air reaches it through the right upper lobe bronchus, which leaves the right main bronchus before the bronchus intermedius.
Body system
Respiratory · right side only
FMA ID
FMA7333 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It has three bronchopulmonary segments: apical, posterior and anterior.
  • The horizontal fissure exists only in the right lung, which is why the right lung has three lobes and the left only two.

Structures next to the upper lobe of right lung

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Upper lobe of right lung (FMA7333). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. TeachMeAnatomy. The Lungs.
  3. TeachMeAnatomy. The Lungs.
  4. Radiopaedia. Horizontal fissure.
  5. Radiopaedia. Lungs.
  6. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §22.1 Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System. Rice University, 2022.
  7. 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.
  8. Radiopaedia. Oblique fissure (surface anatomy used to place the oblique fissures in the 3D lungs).
  9. Radiopaedia. Horizontal fissure (surface anatomy used to place the horizontal fissure in the 3D right lung).

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.