Left superior pulmonary vein
Vena pulmonalis sinistra superior
The vein bringing oxygenated blood from the upper lobe and lingula of the left lung to the left atrium.
At a glance
- English
- Left superior pulmonary vein
- Latin (TA2)
- Vena pulmonalis sinistra superior
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Single, on the midline
About the left superior pulmonary vein
The left superior pulmonary vein returns oxygen-rich blood from the whole of the left upper lobe, including the lingula, to the heart. Like the other pulmonary veins it carries arterial-type blood despite being a vein, and it has no valves.
Inside the lung its tributaries run mainly between the bronchopulmonary segments rather than with the segmental bronchi and arteries, which keep to the centres of the segments. The upper part of the lobe is drained by an apicoposterior vein and an anterior vein, and the lingula by a lingular vein. These converge near the hilum into a single trunk.
At the hilum of the left lung the superior pulmonary vein is the most anterior of the main structures, lying in front of and below the pulmonary artery and in front of the main bronchus. It passes medially, in front of the descending aorta, and enters the upper part of the left side of the left atrium. Within the pericardium the left atrial appendage lies just in front of its opening, separated from it by a fold of atrial wall.
The pulmonary veins are central to the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Muscle from the atrium extends a short way along each vein as a sleeve, and abnormal impulses arising in these sleeves often start the arrhythmia. Catheter ablation aims to isolate the vein openings electrically from the rest of the atrium. In some people the two left pulmonary veins join before reaching the atrium, which changes the shape of the target. In lobectomy the vein must be identified and divided separately from the artery and bronchus.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Formed near the hilum by the apicoposterior, anterior and lingular veins of the left upper lobe.
- Drains into
- Opens into the upper left part of the left atrium.
- Drains
- Returns oxygenated blood from the left upper lobe and lingula to the heart.
Anthromica
See the left superior pulmonary vein where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
