III.B.2 Thorax: Lung

Lung: Page 2 of 4

Using the Highlight or Draw tool, identify the following:

Parietal pleura and its costal, diapragmatic, mediastinal and cervical components.

Visceral pleura which is continuous with the parietal pleura and serves as the covering of the lung.

The parietal and visceral pleura join at the root of the lung where the bronchus, pulmonary artery and pulmonary veins exit the lung parenchyma. This area is known as the hilum.

The space between the parietal and visceral pleura forms the pleural space.


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	What nerves innervate the parietal pleura and how is this important in assessing pain during breathing?
The parietal pleura is innervated by somatic afferents from the intercostal nerves and therefore pain would be felt as thoracic wall pain. This is different from the diphragmatic and mediastinal somatic afferents which orginate from the phrenic nerve (C2-C4) and therefore pain is felt in the laternal neck and supraclavicular regions.