Lingula

Looks like

A tongue-shaped strip of the left upper lobe curling round the front of the heart, the left lung's equivalent of the right middle lobe.

What it does

Takes part in breathing like the rest of the lung.

Keeping it well

Its narrow airway drains poorly, so pneumonia and chronic infection can settle there. A cough bringing up sputum for weeks, or a pneumonia that keeps returning in the same place, needs a scan.

Its parts

• Superior lingular bronchopulmonary segment
• Inferior lingular bronchopulmonary segment

Related conditions

• Acute respiratory distress syndrome
• Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
• Altitude sickness
• Asbestosis and asbestos-related disease
• Aspergillosis
• Asthma
• Breathing pattern disorder
• Bronchiectasis
• Bronchiolitis & RSV
• Chronic venous insufficiency
• Clotting disorders (thrombophilia & APS)
• COPD
• COVID-19
• Cystic fibrosis
• Deep vein thrombosis
• Drowning
• Echinococcosis (hydatid disease)
• Endemic fungal infections (histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis)
• Hantavirus infection
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Hypothermia & frostbite
• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• Influenza
• Kawasaki disease
• Legionnaires' disease
• Leptospirosis (Weil's disease)
• Long COVID (post-viral syndrome)
• Lung abscess
• Lung cancer
• Measles
• Mesothelioma
• Metabolic syndrome
• Molar pregnancy and gestational trophoblastic disease
• Neonatal sepsis
• Neuroendocrine tumours (carcinoid)
• Orthostatic hypotension & POTS
• Peripheral artery disease
• Phaeochromocytoma & hyperaldosteronism
• Pleural effusion
• Pleurisy
• Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP)
• Pneumonia
• Pneumothorax
• Pre-eclampsia
• Pulmonary embolism
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Pulmonary oedema
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn
• Sarcoidosis
• Sepsis
• Shock (circulatory failure)
• SIADH (inappropriate antidiuretic hormone)
• Silicosis and coal workers' pneumoconiosis
• Sudden infant death syndrome
• Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma)
• Tuberculosis
• Varicose veins
• Vasculitis (GCA & others)
• Whooping cough