Middle lobar artery of right lung

At a glance

English

Middle lobar artery of right lung

Latin (TA2)

Arteria lobaris media pulmonis dextri

System

Artery

Region

Trunk

Side

Single, on the midline

About the middle lobar artery of right lung

The right lung has three lobes, and the middle lobe is the smallest, a wedge lying in front between the horizontal and oblique fissures. It has two bronchopulmonary segments, lateral and medial. Its arterial supply comes from the interlobar part of the right pulmonary artery, the continuation of the vessel after the upper lobe artery has left.

The interlobar part runs down and laterally in the angle where the horizontal and oblique fissures meet. From its front surface, at roughly the level where the superior segmental artery of the lower lobe leaves the back, it gives the middle lobar artery. This may be a single vessel that divides into lateral and medial segmental arteries, or two separate vessels. Each runs forwards with the corresponding segmental bronchus.

Like all pulmonary arteries, its branches stay beside the airways and end in alveolar capillaries, bringing deoxygenated blood for gas exchange. The middle lobe drains through the right superior pulmonary vein, which it shares with the upper lobe.

The artery is found at the junction of the fissures in a middle lobectomy, and in lower lobectomy it must be identified and preserved before the basal arteries are divided. Disease of the middle lobe lies against the right heart border and blurs it on a frontal chest film.

Course and supply

Arises from

The anterior side of the interlobar part of the right pulmonary artery, in the meeting point of the horizontal and oblique fissures.

Ends in

Divides into the lateral and medial segmental arteries of the middle lobe.

Supplies

Carries deoxygenated blood to the middle lobe of the right lung for gas exchange.