| Sternal angle | |
|---|---|
| Lateral border of sternum. | |
| Anterior surface of sternum and costal cartilages. (Sternal angle not labeled, but visible at second costal cartilage.) | |
| Latin | angulus sterni, angulus sternalis |
| Gray's | subject #27 121 |
The sternal angle or 'angle of Louis', from the Latin angulus Ludovici is the anterior angle formed by the junction of the manubrium and the body of the sternum[1] (the manubriosternal junction) in the form of a secondary cartilaginous joint (symphysis). This is also called the manubriosternal joint or Angle of Louis. The sternal angle is a palpable clinical landmark.
It marks the approximate level of the 2nd pair of costal cartilages and the level of the intervertebral disc between T4 and T5. It also marks approximately the beginning and end of the aortic arch, and the bifurcation of the trachea into the left and right main bronchi.
It also marks the boundary between the superior and inferior portion of the mediastinum.
The angle is approximately 140 degrees (varies depending on normal variation of human anatomy).
It is named after Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis, a French physician of the 19th century, who was one of the first to bring mathematics to medicine, disproving bloodletting as a practice by showing statistically that it did not work.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||