Pulmonary venous compartment of the airways circulation.

Bronchial circulation has three components: a systemic arterial component represented by the bronchial arteries; a pulmonary venous component represented by the pulmonary veins; and a systemic venous component represented by the bronchial veins. We have used vascular casting, microscope dissection coupled with tracers and light microscopy to define the detailed anatomy of the pulmonary venous compartment of the bronchial circulation. We have found that the extrapulmonary drainage territory of the pulmonary veins correlate with the forming pattern of the right superior pulmonary vein.

Venous circulation of the bronchial wall.

Bronchial supply plays an important role in both the protecting mechanisms and the pathogenic ones of many chronic inflammatory, infections or ischemic diseases of the lung. However, little is known regarding the bronchial supply development; the appearance of the connections to the functional pulmonary supply; the territory supplied by the bronchial veins. In this study, we follow the distribution of the pulmonary veins branches at the level of the subcarinal airways and their relationship to the bronchial veins in the human lungs.