Bronchial artery

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bronchial artery
Lungs
Identifiers
Latinarteriae bronchiales,
rami bronchiales partis thoracicae aortae
MeSHD001981
TA98A12.2.11.002
TA24579
FMA68109 71536, 68109
Anatomical terminology]

In

right lung
, and are a vital part of the respiratory system.

Structure

There are typically two left and one right bronchial arteries.[1]

The left bronchial arteries (superior and inferior) usually arise directly from the thoracic aorta.[2]

The single right bronchial artery usually arises from one of the following:

  • 1) the
    posterior intercostal artery
  • 2) the superior bronchial artery on the left side
  • 3) any number of the right
    intercostal arteries
    mostly the third right posterior.

Function

The bronchial arteries supply blood to the bronchi and connective tissue of the lungs. They travel with and branch with the

pleura
of the lung in the process.

Note that much of the oxygenated blood supplied by the bronchial arteries is returned via the

pulmonary veins rather than the bronchial veins
. As a consequence, blood returning to the left heart is slightly less oxygenated than blood found at the level of the pulmonary capillary beds.

Each bronchial artery also has a branch that supplies the esophagus.

Comparison with pulmonary arteries

It is easy to confuse the bronchial arteries with the pulmonary arteries, because they both supply the lungs with blood, but there are important differences:

artery function circulation diameter
pulmonary arteries
 supplies deoxygenated blood pumped from the
right ventricle
 pulmonary circulation relatively large
bronchial arteries
 supplies oxygenated blood pumped from the
left ventricle
systemic circulation
 relatively small

Clinical significance

Bronchial artery is considered dilated when its diameter is more than 2 mm. Several causes of bronchial artery dilatations are: congenital heart or lung diseases, obstructions of pulmonary artery, and lung inflammation.[1]

The bronchial arteries are typically enlarged and

pulmonary thromboembolic hypertension.[3]

With modern surgical techniques, bronchial anastomoses heal well without bronchial artery reconnection. Largely for this reason, bronchial artery circulation is usually sacrificed during lung transplants, instead relying on the persistence of a microcirculation (presumably arising from the deoxygenated pulmonary circulation) to provide perfusion to the airways.[4]

Aneurysms of the bronchial artery may mimic aortic aneurysms.[5] Bronchial artery embolisation (BAE) is catheter insertion into a bronchial artery to treat hemoptysis (coughing blood).[6][7]. Most lung tumors are supplied by the bronchial artery, and they can be treated by chemoembolization (injecting chemotherapy and particles directly into the tumor-feeding artery).[8]

The bronchial arteries and their supply of nutrients to the lungs are also attributed to the observation that an occluded (either ligated or by an embolus) pulmonal artery very rarely results in lung infarction.[9] The bronchial arteries can maintain a supply of oxygenated blood to lung tissue.

See also

References

  1. ^
    PMID 30382495
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-323-44284-8
    .
  3. S2CID 25591310
    .
  4. PMID 11790658
    .
  5. S2CID 23659854
    .
  6. S2CID 239263865
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-323-04841-5
    .
  8. PMID 34463550
    .
  9. PMID 13700013
    .

External links
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