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The chest cavity contains vital organs such as the heart and lungs, as well as important vessels and structures. It can be divided into smaller categories such as the pleural cavities and mediastinum, which are important for medical and surgical purposes. Surgeons must be precise when operating in this area, especially on newborns.
In the upper part of the body there are several cavities. In the head, humans have the cranial cavity, and just down from that in the thorax is the thoracic cavity, running from the underside of the neck down to the ends of the ribs, or more precisely the diaphragm. Rib cages and the chest wall may sometimes be referred to as a rib cage, but the chest cavity may be more widely used, especially in the medical field.
There are a number of structures contained within the chest cavity and some of the most vital in the human body. The lungs and heart both reside in this area of the body, and here too are some of the most important vessels that enter or leave the heart. These include the aorta, pulmonary artery, and superior and inferior vena cava.
Structures attached to the lungs are found in this area, including the trachea. Another structure that passes through the cavity is the esophagus. Key parts of the endocrine system such as the thyroid and thymus glands can also be found here.
There are ways to further classify areas of the chest cavity. They can be divided into smaller categories called the pleural cavities and the mediastinum. The term pleural refers to the membranous lining around the lungs that aids in their function. When people have a pleural effusion, they have a buildup of fluid in this lining.
Mediastinum can be used to describe the central section of the chest cavity that contains almost everything except the lungs, including the heart, great vessels, esophagus, trachea. To make things a little more confusing, the mediastinum can be separated into anterior, middle, and posterior sections. The average person may never need to know that much, but these distinctions are vital when it comes to understanding this section of the body from a medical and surgical perspective.
It might be helpful to view the chest cavity as completely filled with things vital to the body’s function. There are some nerves present there as well, and any surgery that takes place in this area must avoid potentially injuring them, repairing what is needed. This becomes easier as people get older because the cavity has grown, providing more space between the structures. However, it is quite remarkable that surgeons are able to perform operations such as heart or lung surgery on newborns, when the structures within this cavity are tiny and the cavity itself is not very large. Certainly exceptional precision is required.
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