Thoracic Cavity. Flashcards
What is the thoracic cavity?
The space that is surrounded by the ribs and the diaphragm.
What 3 things make up the walls of the thoracic cavity?
Muscles.
Bones.
Ligaments.
What are the 5 boundaries of the thoracic cavity?
Cranial boundary. Thoracic inlet.
Dorsal boundary. Thoracic vertebral bodies.
Ventral boundary. Sternum.
Caudal boundary. Diaphragm.
Lateral boundary. Ribs and intercostal muscles.
What is the thoracic inlet?
The oval opening located at the cranial region of the thoracic cavity.
What are the lateral boundaries of the thoracic inlet?
The 1st pair of ribs and their respective cartilage.
What is the dorsal area of the thoracic inlet protected by?
The first pair of thoracic vertebrae and the pair of longus coli muscles.
What is located at the ventral aspect of the thoracic inlet?
The manubrium of the sternum.
What 6 structures pass through the thoracic inlet?
The trachea.
The oesophagus.
The vego-sympathetic nerve trunk.
The recurrent laryngeal.
The phrenic nerve.
The first 2 thoracic nerves and several vessels.
What are the 4 main organs in the thoracic cavity?
The lungs.
The heart.
The thymus gland.
The lymph nodes.
What are the 7 structures that pass through the thoracic cavity?
The aorta.
The cranial and caudal vena cava.
The azygos vein.
The thoracic duct.
The smaller lymph vessels.
The oesophagus.
The vagal and phrenic sympathetic nerves.
What are the 6 important strucutures that are found in the mediastinum?
The thymus.
The heart.
The aorta.
The trachea.
The oesophagus.
The vagus nerve.
What are the 3 divisions of the mediastinum?
The cranial mediastinum.
Middle mediastinum.
The caudal mediastinum.
What is the cranial portion of the mediastinum?
The portion of the mediastinum that lies cranially to the heart.
What is the middle portion of the mediastinum?
The portion of the mediastinum that contains the heart.
What is the caudal portion of the mediastinum?
The portion of the mediastinum that lies caudal to the heart.
What covers everything in the thoracic cavity?
A serous membrane known as pleurae.
What are the pleural cavities?
The spaces that lie between the outside of the lungs and the inside of the chest wall.
How is pleurae labelled?
The labelling is based on the area that the pleurae cover.
What is the parietal pleurae?
The parietal pleurae covers the walls of the of the thoracic cavity
What are the 3 division of parietal pleurae?
Mediastinal pleurae.
Costal pleurae.
Diaphragmatic pleurae.
What is pulmonary pleurae?
The pleurae that covers the lung.
How is pleurae named?
Pleura can be named as to the organ that it covers.
What are the lungs?
The organs in which oxygen from the atmosphere is exchanged for carbon dioxide that has come from the blood.
How are the 2 lungs differentiated?
Into the right and left lung.
What are the 3 features of the left lung?
A cranial lobe that is divided into a cranial part and a caudal part.
A caudal lobe.
Absence of a cardiac notch.
What are the 4 features of the right lung?
A cranial lobe.
A medial lobe.
A caudal lobe.
An accessory lobe.
What is the cardiac notch of the right lung?
The dip in the medial side of the right lung that creates space for the heart to fit into the thoracic cavity.
