{"id":2360,"date":"2024-01-14T15:37:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T14:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/the-mediastinum\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T19:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:56:38","slug":"the-mediastinum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/the-mediastinum\/","title":{"rendered":"The mediastinum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Anatomy of the mediastinum<\/h5>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In clinical practice, the mediastinum is commonly divided into an anterior, middle, and posterior compartment.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The anterior compartment (mediastinum anterius) comprises the space between the sternum and the pericardium, as well as the costomediastinal recess of the pleural sacs. The contents of this space consist of loose fat and connective tissue, a number of lymph nodes, arterial branches (of the internal thoracic artery), and, above all, the thymus gland and its fatty tissue.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The middle compartment (mediastinum medius) is the widest part of the mediastinum. It contains the pericardium with the heart, the ascending aorta (aorta ascendens), the lower third of the superior vena cava, the terminal azygos vein, the bifurcation of the trachea (bifurcatio tracheae), both main bronchi, the pulmonary trunk with both pulmonary arteries (arteriae pulmonales), the pulmonary veins (venae pulmonales), the phrenic nerves (nervii phrenici), the lower parts of the cardiac plexus consisting of fibres of the autonomic nervous system (plexus cardiacus), and the lymph nodes around the trachea and the main bronchi.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The posterior compartment (mediastinum posterius) is bounded anteriorly (ventrally) by the bifurcation of the trachea, the pulmonary arteries and pulmonary veins (pulmonary vessels), and the central connective tissue plate on the dorsal surface of the pericardium.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inferiorly, it is demarcated by the posterior portion of the diaphragmatic surfaces, and posteriorly (dorsally) by the 5th\u201312th thoracic vertebral bodies, and laterally by the right and left pleura (right and left mediastinal pleura). This space contains the descending thoracic aorta (aorta thoracalis descendens), the azygos and hemiazygos veins, the vagus and splanchnic nerves (nervii vagi et splanchnici), the oesophagus, the thoracic duct (ductus thoracicus), and the posterior mediastinal lymph nodes.<\/p>\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conditions affecting the mediastinum<\/h5>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tumours of the mediastinum; these include malignant tumours, benign tumours, and lymph node metastases<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fluid-filled cavities (cysts) in the mediastinum; these include cysts, diverticula, and aneurysms<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Other malformations of the organs in the mediastinum. These organs include the heart, the thymus gland, some lymph nodes, and parts of the oesophagus, the aorta, the thyroid gland, and the parathyroid glands.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inflammation of the mediastinum; this includes mediastinitis and inflammation of the lymph nodes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Common in the anterior mediastinum are:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Thymomas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Germ cell tumours<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anatomy of the mediastinum In clinical practice, the mediastinum is commonly divided into an anterior, middle, and posterior compartment. The anterior compartment (mediastinum anterius) comprises the space between the sternum&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thorax-function-and-anatomy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2361,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360\/revisions\/2361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorax-schweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}