Practice Quiz - Superior Mediastinum & Lungs
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  1. You are called to perform thoracentesis (remove fluid from the pleural cavity). If you are to avoid injuring lung or neurovascular elements, where would you insert the aspiration needle?
    the top of interspace 8 in the midclavicular line
    the bottom of interspace 8 in the midclavicular line
    the top of interspace 9 in the midaxillary line
    the bottom of interspace 9 in the midaxillary line
    the top of interspace 11 in the scapular line
  2. The pleural space into which lung tissue just above the cardiac notch would tend to expand during deep inspiration is the:
    Anterior mediastinum
    Costodiaphragmatic recess
    Costomediastinal recess
    Cupola
    Pulmonary ligament
  3. Which feature is found only in the left lung?
    Cardiac notch
    Horizontal fissure
    Oblique fissure
    Superior lobar bronchus
    Three lobes
  4. Which of the following nerves would be most vulnerable to irritation when the tracheobronchial lymph nodes are enlarged due to a diseased situation?
    Right phrenic
    Left phrenic
    Right recurrent laryngeal
    Left recurrent laryngeal
    Right vagus
  5. Which part of the left lung might partially fill the costomediastinal recess in full inspiration?
    Apex
    Cupola
    Hilum
    Lingula
    Middle lobe
  6. The oblique fissure of the right lung separates which structures?
    Lower lobe from lingula
    Lower lobe from upper lobe only
    Lower lobe from both upper and middle lobes
    Lower lobe from middle lobe only
    Upper from middle lobe
  7. In a post-soccer match brawl, a 35-year-old man was stabbed in the back with a knife that just nicked his left lung halfway between its apex and diaphragmatic surface. Which part of the lung was most likely injured?
    Hilum
    Inferior lobe
    Lingula
    Middle lobe
    Superior lobe
  8. A 4-year-old girl is brought in with coughing, and you are told by her mother that she had been playing with some beads and had apparently aspirated one (gotten it into her airway). Where would you expect it to most likely be?
    Apicoposterior segmental bronchus of left lung
    Left main bronchus
    Lingular segment of left lung
    Right main bronchus
    Terminal bronchiole of right lung, lower lobe
  9. Which statement is true about the right lung?
    it is slightly smaller than the left lung
    it has a lingular segmental bronchus
    it occupies the rightmost portion of the mediastinum
    its upper lobar bronchus lies behind and above the right pulmonary artery
    it has the right phrenic nerve passing posterior to the lung root
  10. During a surgical procedure in the vicinity of the descending aorta, a surgeon accidentally cuts the first aortic intercostal arteries. Which of the following structures might be deprived of its main source of blood supply?
    first posterior intercostal space
    first anterior intercostal space
    left bronchus
    right bronchus
    fibrous pericardium
  11. A sick person, lying supine in bed, aspirates (breathes in) some fluid into her lungs while swallowing. It would most likely end up in which of the following bronchopulmonary segments?
    anterior segmental bronchus of right superior lobe
    medial segmental bronchus of right middle lobe
    superior segmental bronchus of right inferior lobe
    medial basal segmental bronchus of left inferior lobe
    inferior segmental bronchus of lingular lobe
  12. A 22-year-old male involved in a bar-room brawl suffered a stab wound through the posterior thoracic wall that entered the posterior surface of the right lung half way between its apex and diaphragmatic surface. Which part of the lung did the knife first enter?
    Cupola
    Inferior lobe
    Lingula
    Middle lobe
    Superior lobe
  13. A 20-year-old man was stabbed in the back with a knife that just nicked his right lung halfway between its apex and diaphragmatic surface. Which part of the lung was most likely injured?
    Middle lobe
    Inferior lobe
    Cardiac notch
    Lingula
    Superior lobe
  14. A 10-year-old boy underwent a tonsillectomy under general anesthesia. At home he lay supine in bed for two weeks and developed a fever and chest pain with cough. He returned to the hospital and was diagnosed as having right lung pneumonia due to aspiration of infectious material during the tonsillectomy. In which bronchopulmonary segment of the lung would fluid (pus) most likely have accumulated by the simple force of gravity?
    Anterior basal segment--inferior lobe
    Anterior segment--superior lobe
    Lateral segment--middle lobe
    Superior segment--inferior lobe
    Superior lingual segment--lingula
  15. You are observing a doctor perform a bronchoscopy. As he passes the bronchoscope down the trachea, a cartilagenous structure is observed separating the right and left main stem bronchi. He asks what it is called. You reply that it really does look like a ship's keel and that it is called the:
    Carina
    Cricoid cartilage
    Costal cartilage
    Pulmonary ligament
    Tracheal ring
  16. The minor (horizontal) fissure separates:
    the lower lobe from the lingula
    the upper lobe from the lingula
    the lower lobe from both the middle and upper lobes
    the lower lobe from the middle lobe
    the middle lobe from the upper lobe
  17. Your patient, an 86-year-old female who has been bed-ridden and lying supine for many weeks, has developed a right lung abscess that is draining by gravity into one particular region of the lung. Where is the most likely site of fluid accumulation?
    Apical segment of upper lobe
    Lingula
    Lower lobe
    Middle lobe
    Superior segment of lower lobe
  18. Because of its angle with the trachea and size of the main bronchus, a bronchoscope would pass more readily into which lung?
    Left
    Right
  19. Which vessel courses across the mediastinum in an almost horizontal fashion?
    Left subclavian artery
    Left subclavian vein
    Left brachiocephalic vein
    Left internal jugular vein
    Left common carotid artery
  20. A 78-year-old female presented with edema of the left upper limb due to poor venous return. Examination revealed an aneurysm of the ascending aorta that was impinging on a large vein lying immediately anterosuperior to it, most likely the:
    Azygos v.
    Internal thoracic v.
    Left brachiocephalic v.
    Left superior intercostal v.
    Right brachiocephalic v.
  21. An 8-year-old boy is found to have a mid-line tumor of the thymus gland that is impinging posteriorly on a blood vessel. The affected vessel is most likely the:
    left brachiocephalic vein
    left pulmonary vein
    left bronchial vein
    right pulmonary artery
    right superior intercostal vein