Trachea, Bronchi, Lungs

bronchopulmonary segments
ROEL COBARDE M.D.
LUNGS

 Vital organs of respiration to oxygenate the blood

 Normally light, soft and spongy and fully occupy the pulmonary cavities
 Parts: Apex – blunt superior end and extends above R1
 Base – concave inferior surface and resting on the dome of the diaphragm
 2 or 3 lobes divided by the fissures
 3 surfaces – costal, mediastinal and diaphragmatic
 3 borders – anterior, inferior and posterior
 Impressions only in cadaveric embalmed lungs
 Cardiac notch is evident in the living
Right lung

 Right oblique and horizontal fissures

 Lobes – superior, middle and inferior
 Larger and heavier but is shorter and wider
Left lung

 Single oblique fissure

 Superior and inferior lobes
 Cardiac notch – indentation in the anterior border due to the heart
 Lingula – thin tongue like process of the superior lobe which extends below the cardiac
notch
Costal surface

 Large, smooth and convex and closely related to the costal pleura
 Vertebral part of the costal surface posterior part related to the thoracic vertebrae
Mediastinal surface

 Concave because of the middle mediastinum

 Embalmed – groove for the esophagus and the cardiac impression, arch of the
aorta,descending aorta
 Hilum (doorway) of the lung – wedge shaped area through which the structures forming
the root of the lung pass
 Pleural sleeve (mesopneumonium) – encloses the root of the lung
 Pulmonary ligament double layer of pleura separated small amount of connective tissue
Diaphragmatic surface of the lung

 Concave base of the lung, resting on the dome of the diaphragm

Trachea

 Located in the superior mediastinum

 Composed of C shape hyaline cartilage
 Starts from the larynx and terminates at the level of the transverse thoracic plane as it
bifurcates into 2 main bronchi
Bronchi

 Right main bronchus – wider and shorter and runs more vertically

 Left main bronchus – passes inferior to arch of the aorta but anterior to the esophagus
 Lobar bronchi
 2 in the left lung – superior and inferior

 3 in the right lung – superior, middle and inferior

Tertiary segmental bronchi

 Supply the bronchopulmonary segments

 8-10 segments in the left lung
 10 segments in the right lung
 Bronchopulmonary segments

 Largest subdivisions of a lobe

 Pyramidal shape – base – pleura, apex towards root of lung
 Bounded by connective tissue septa
 Supplied by segmental bronchus and tertiary branch of pulmonary artery and drained
intersegmental veins
 10 in the right
 8-10 in the left
 Surgically resectable
Bronchioles


20-25 generations of branching conducting bronchioles to end as the terminal
bronchioles – smallest
 Bronchioles has no cartilage, no glands, no alveoli
 Respiratory bronchioles – scattered, thin walled alveoli extends from their lumens
 Pulmonary alveolus – basic structural unit of gas exchange
Vasculature of the lungs

 1 pulmonary artery from the pulmonary trunk

 2 pulmonary veins
Pulmonary Artery

 Pulmonary trunk - Right and left pulmonary arteries  lobar arteries  tertiary
segmental arteries
 Arteries and bronchi are paired in the lung branching simultaneously and parallel courses
 Arteries are located anterior to bronchus
Pulmonary veins

 2, superior and inferior on each side

 Middle lobe vein drains into the right superior pulmonary vein
 Pulmonary veins run independently from the arteries
 Veins from the visceral pleura and bronchial venous circulation will drain into the
pulmonary veins
Pulmonary lymphatics

 Communicate freely
 Superficial (subpleural) lymphatic plexus (drains lung parenchyma) and drained into the
hilar lymph nodes
 Deep lymphatic plexus located in the submucosa of the bronchi and drains structures that
form the root of the lung and finally drained into the intrinsic pulmonary lymph nodes
 Finally drains to the right lymphatic duct and thoracic duct
end…