{"id":7499,"date":"2021-10-14T17:40:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T15:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/thorax\/thoracic-wall\/thoracic-wall-introduction\/"},"modified":"2021-11-08T07:59:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T05:59:23","slug":"thoracic-wall-introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/thorax\/thoracic-wall\/thoracic-wall-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoracic wall &#8211; Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><div class=\"intro\">The thoracic wall covers the thoracic cavity. It consists of bones, muscles, and neurovasculature.<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The thoracic wall protects the vital organs of the thoracic cavity, participates in respiration, and serves as an attachment for muscles and other tissues.<\/p>\n\n\n<span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_1\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Layers<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_1\">\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Bones (the &#8220;thoracic cage&#8221;)<ul><li>Ribs<\/li><li>Sternum and manubrium<\/li><li>Thoracic vertebral column<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Muscles<ul><li>Pectoralis group (major and minor)<\/li><li>Serratus group (posterior superior, posterior inferior, and anterior)<\/li><li>Intercostals (external, internal, and innermost)<\/li><li>Transversus thoracic<\/li><li>Subcostalis<\/li><li>Levatores costarum<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Neurovasculature<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_2\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Borders<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_2\">\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the thoracic wall covers the thoracic cavity, it is essentially the external boundary of the thoracic cavity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table class=\"pure-table\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Superior<\/strong><\/td><td>Superior thoracic aperture<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Inferior<\/strong><\/td><td>Inferior thoracic aperture<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Anterior<\/strong><\/td><td>Sternum and manubrium<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Lateral<\/strong><\/td><td>Ribs and intercostal muscles<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Posterior<\/strong><\/td><td>Thoracic vertebral bodies<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption><strong>Table 1. Borders of the thoracic cavity<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The thoracic cage itself is found between the skin and overlying connective tissue, and the pleura of the lungs, pericardium, and connective tissue.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_3\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Apertures<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_3\">\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The <strong>superior thoracic aperture<\/strong> connects the thorax to the neck. <ul><li>It spans between the first ribs, manubrium, and the body of T1 vertebrae.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The <strong>inferior thoracic aperture <\/strong>connects the thorax to the abdomen.<ul><li>It is found inferior to the ribcage and is bound by the diaphragm.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_4\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Intercostal spaces<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_4\">\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The intercostal spaces are the gaps found between the <strong>ribs<\/strong>, <strong>endothoracic fascia<\/strong>, and the <strong>overlying fascia skin<\/strong> (see Table 2). They contain the <a href=\"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/thorax\/thoracic-wall\/neurovasculature\/\">intercostal neurovasculature<\/a> running between layers of muscular sheets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The intercostal neurovasculature runs inside this space, with the major vessels and nerves found at the lower margin of each rib, and the collateral neurovasculature running at the upper margin of each rib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table class=\"pure-table\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Externally<\/strong> (&#8220;roof&#8221;)<\/td><td>External fascia and skin<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Internally<\/strong> (&#8220;floor&#8221;)<\/td><td>Endothoracic fascia<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Superiorly<\/strong><\/td><td>Upper rib<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Inferiorly<\/strong><\/td><td>Lower rib<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption><strong>Table 2. <\/strong>Borders of each intercostal space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"attachment_18886\"><a href=\"https:\/\/meddists.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/intercostal.png\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Thoracic wall - Introduction\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meddists.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/intercostal-558x600.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18886\"\/><\/a><figcaption><strong>Figure 1. <\/strong>A slice of the rib cage showing the intercostal muscles and neurovasculature<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/span><div id=\"the_titles\" style=\"display:none;\"><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Layers<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Borders<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Apertures<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Intercostal spaces<\/h4><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The thoracic wall protects the vital organs of the thoracic cavity, participates in respiration, and serves as an attachment for muscles and other tissues. Layers Bones (the &#8220;thoracic cage&#8221;) Ribs Sternum and manubrium Thoracic vertebral column Muscles Pectoralis group (major and minor) Serratus group (posterior superior, posterior inferior, and anterior) Intercostals (external, internal, and innermost) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1585,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7499","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thoracic wall - Introduction &#8211; Meddists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/thorax\/thoracic-wall\/thoracic-wall-introduction\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/meddists.com\\\/learn\\\/pre-clinical\\\/anatomy\\\/thorax\\\/thoracic-wall\\\/thoracic-wall-introduction\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/meddists.com\\\/learn\\\/pre-clinical\\\/anatomy\\\/thorax\\\/thoracic-wall\\\/thoracic-wall-introduction\\\/\",\"name\":\"Thoracic wall - Introduction &#8211; 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