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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 1092

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 1092

  The Anterior Mediastinum (Fig. 968) exists only on the left side where the left pleura diverges from the mid-sternal line. It is bounded in front by the sternum, laterally by the pleuræ, and behind by the pericardium. It is narrow, above, but widens out a little below. Its anterior wall is formed by the left Transversus thoracis and the fifth, sixth, and seventh left costal cartilages. 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, and the small mediastinal branches of the internal mammary artery.


FIG. 969– The middle and posterior mediastina. Left side. (See enlarged image)
  The Middle Mediastinum (Fig. 968) is the broadest part of the interpleural space. It contains the heart enclosed in the pericardium, the ascending aorta, the lower half of the superior vena cava with the azygos vein opening into it, the bifurcation of the trachea and the two bronchi, the pulmonary artery dividing