Anterior mediastinum

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Anterior mediastinum
Mediastinum
A transverse section of the thorax, showing the contents of the middle and the posterior mediastinum. The pleural and pericardial cavities are exaggerated since normally there is no space between parietal and visceral pleura and between pericardium and heart.
Latin	mediastinum anterius
Gray's	subject #239 1092
Dorlands/Elsevier	m_06/12518960

The anterior mediastinum exists only on the left side where the left pleura diverges from the mid-sternal line.

It is narrow, above, but widens out a little below.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 Contents 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Boundaries

It is bounded:

• in front by the sternum
• laterally by the pleurae
• posteriorly by the pericardium
• anteriorly by the left Transversus thoracis and the fifth, sixth, and seventh left costal cartilages

[edit] Contents

It contains:

• a quantity of loose areolar tissue
• some lymphatic vessels which ascend from the convex surface of the liver
• two or three anterior mediastinal lymph glands
• the small mediastinal branches of the internal mammary artery

[edit] See also

• mediastinum
• thoracic plane

[edit] External links

• Norman/Georgetown thoraxlesson4 - "Anterior Mediastinum"

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

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