An aberrant anterior lobe and unusual accessory fissure of the left lung in human — anatomical and clinical considerations

Accessory fissures that separate aberrant lung lobes are not only interesting anatomical observations, but also have a definite importance as they may cause diagnostic confusion in radiological and pathological evaluations. In the case reported here, a rare type of separation of the left lung by an unusual fissure is described. The left lung of a 67-year-old Caucasian female cadaver showed an accessory fissure that crossed the mediastinal, apical and anterior costal surfaces. The aberrant fissure separated the organ into a small upper-medial anterior lung lobe (lobus minimus) and a much larger aberrant lobe (lobus magnus). At the pulmonary hilum, the artery, vein and bronchus of the small aberrant lobe were clearly identifiable. During analysis of radiological images such as X-ray and computed tomography, the existence of such aberrant fissures and lobes have to be known in detail in order to separate between simple anatomic variation of the lungs and a number of lung pathologies including scar, pulmonary bulla, atelectasis or even mediastinal mass. Keywords: aberrant lung lobe; accessory lung fissure; human; variation