This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Lung hila (anatomy)

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The hila of the lungs are the areas of their central mediastinal surfaces where the structures of the lung roots enter. The order of structures surrounding and within each hilum mirrors the respective root, except that it is slightly more lateral.

The hila of the lungs correspond to:

  • anteriorly, the level of the 3rd-4th costal cartilage
  • posteriorly, the level of the T5-T7 vertebrae

One key difference between the hila is that:

  • on the right, the right superior lobe bronchus divides from the right principal bronchus before the right hilum
  • on the left side, the left principal bronchus does not divide until it has entered the hilum of the lung

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.