Library · Anatomy
Lobes of the lung
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The two lungs look alike, but they are not the same. The right one is divided into three blocks, called lobes: the upper, the middle and the lower. The left one has only two, the upper and the lower.
What separates them are deep clefts called fissures. The right lung has two, the oblique and the horizontal, which is why it ends up with three pieces. The left has only the oblique, which is why it ends up with two. Each lobe also has its own air inlet, a lobar bronchus.
The left lung has one more quirk. Its front border is not straight: it has a cardiac notch, a concavity that houses the left ventricle of the heart.
Think of a couch with one corner cut away so the table fits.
In brief
The right lung has three lobes, the upper, the middle and the lower; the left has only two, the upper and the lower.
Fissures separate them: on the right the oblique and the horizontal, on the left only the oblique. Each lobe receives its own lobar bronchus.
The anterior border of the left lung has a cardiac notch, a concavity that houses the left ventricle of the heart.
A couch with one corner cut away so the table fits.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Thorax, Lungs, StatPearlsPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Lung, StatPearlsPublished
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