These statements and questions are provided as a study aid to help you gauge your level of understanding of the region. A link to the Forum is provided if you are unsure of specific statements and questions and wish to discuss them.

1.  Intercostal muscles extend the entire space.    

 Hint Think of overlapping and fiber direction.

2.  What is the source of the intercostal arteries?    

 Hint Both anterior and posterior.

3.  Where do the intercostal veins terminate?    

 Hint There are multiple veins involved.

4.  What spaces are in the chest?    

 Hint Cavities, recesses, etc.

5. What is the pleural cavity?    

 Hint Think of the layers of the cavity.

6.  What is the costodiaphragmatic recess?    

 Hint It is within the pleural cavity.

7.  What names are applied to the parietal pleura?    

 Hint Think of the surfaces

8.  Define mediastinum?    

 Hint Check the dictionary.

9.  Name the structures in the superior, anterior, posterior mediastinum.    

 Hint Remember the relationships of these structures.

10. What nerves enter the cardiac plexus?    

 Hint Think autonomics.

11. Describe difference between right and left recurrent branches of the vagus.    

 Hint Relationships, relationships, relationships.

12. What are the named spaces in the pericardial cavity?    

 Hint Spaces equal sinuses.

13. What is the relationship between the left recurrent
laryngeal nerve and the ligamentum arteriousm?    

 Hint See number 11.

14. What empties into the right atrium?    

 Hint Don't forget cardiac circulation.

15. Where and why is there a fossa ovalis?    

 Hint Review heart development

16. What are the names of the semilunar valves?    

 Hint Remember the heart rotates during development.

17. Name the branches of the coronary arteries?    

 Hint See Moore pp. 99-102.

18. Where do cardiac veins empty into the heart?    

 Hint It's on the right.

19. What is the embryological explanation of patent foramen
ovale, persistent atrioventricular canal, defect of
membranous septum, ductus arteriosus, tetralogy of Falot,
transposition of great vessels, dextrocardia,or right aortic arch?    

 Hint Review heart development.

20.  What is an auricle?    

 Hint Auricle means "ear".

21. Name the structures in the hilus of the lung.    

 Hint Remember the relationships of the great vessels.

22. What are the segmental branches of the bronchus?    

 Hint There are primary (main), secondary (lobar) and tertiary (segmental).

23. How do the pulmonary veins differ in position from the arteries?    

 Hint Which is intersegmental?

24. Where does oxygenated blood to lung tissue come from?    

 Hint Branches of the aorta and intercostals.

25. Describe the relations of the esophagus to other structures in 
the posterior mediastinum.    

 Hint Think of nerves, arteries, veins, lymphatics.

26. What is the extent of the thoracic duct?    

 Hint See Moore p 115.

27. What are the components of the sympathetic chain?    

 Hint Remember communicantes and branches of the chain.

28. Why may cardiac pain be felt in the arm and not in the chest?    

 Hint See Moore pp 106-107.

29. All ribs can be easily palpated.    

 Hint Check the skeleton for rib 1.

30. Identical structures fill throughout the intercostal spaces.    

 Hint Think of the muscles, remember VAN.

31. Could the internal thoracic artery contribute to the
collateral circulation around a coarctation of the aorta
(stenosis or pinching of the descending aorta usually close
to the ligamentum arteriosum).    

 Hint Think of anastomosis involving superior epigastric a.

32. What is the rationale of removing the pectoralis muscles in
a radical mastectomy for cancer of the breast?    

 Hint Where are the pectoral lymph nodes; CLASP.

33. Visceral and parietal pleura are found in the fissures of the lung.    

 Hint Remember how the pleural cavity is formed.

34. The mediastinal pleura represents visceral pleura, whereas
the costal pleura represents parietal pleura.    

 Hint See number 7.

35. The left pleural cavity and the pericardial cavity are in
communication.    

 Hint Can you collapse only one lung?

36. The costodiaphragmatic recess of the pleural cavity is always
filled with lung tissue.    

 Hint Would it be a recess then?

37. The broncho-pulmonary segments are primarily defined by the
branching of the pulmonary veins.    

 Hint Do the veins or arteries follow the bronchi?

38. The locations of the fissures of the lungs vary so greatly
that no surface markings can be established for these fissures.    

 Hint See Moore p. 71.

39. All the tissues of the lung receive their blood supply
through the pulmonary arteries.    

 Hint Is this aerated blood?

40. The venous blood passes only through heart valves without
chordae tendineae.    

 Hint What about tricuspid?

41. All cardiac veins enter the coronary sinus.    

 Hint What drains the right atrium?

42. The left atrium contains no parts of the conducting system.    

 Hint See Moore p. 106.

43. Which structures are related anteriorly to the tracheal
bifurcation?    

 Hint Think about the great vessels of the heart.

44. Which structure(s) course(s) for some distance on the
vertebral bodies?    

 Hint Nerves, arteries, veins, lymphatics.

45. Both esophagus and descending thoracic aorta course in the
midsagittal plane.    

 Hint How could that happen?

46. Only spinal nerves or their branches are found in the thoracic cavity.    

 Hint Cranial nerves?

47. The diagphragm and the abdominal muscles are the major
muscles for quiet respiration.    

 Hint See Moore pp. 48-50.

48. No cyanosis is associated with the  

 Hint Are pulmonary vessels affected.

49. The projections of the tricupid and the aortic valve are to
the right of the sternum.    

 Hint Projections differ from auscultation points.

50. The tricuspid and pulmonary valves regulate the flow of venous blood.    

 Hint Venous blood is unoxygenated.

51. The esophagus is narrowed where it is crossed by the left main bronchus.    

 Hint Where else is it compressed?

52. The left brachiocephalic vein is posterior to the trachea.    

 Hint See number 43.

53. The arch of the aorta is to the right of the trachea.    

 Hint Why is the right main bronchus more vertical?

54. The foramen ovale closes by active growth shorthly before birth.    

 Hint What change in pressures occur with first respiration?

55. The diaphragmatic surface of the heart is formed only by the
right ventricle.    

 Hint Where is the apex?

56. Bronchus, pulmonary artery and vein are the only structures
found in the hilum of the lung.    

 Hint What supplies lung tissues?, lymphatics, innervation?

57. Sibson's fascia (suprapleural membrane) is a thickening of
the visceral pleura.    

 Hint It's an extension of pre-vertebral fascia.

58. The thoracic duct normally drains the body below the
diaphragm, and the left half above it.    

 Hint What drains the upper-right quadrant?

59. You may as well forget about the conducting system because
we could not dissect it.    

 Hint Tell that to the physiologists.

60. The sternal angle (of Louis) is at the level of T4/5.    

 Hint What level is the suprasternal notch?

61. The thoracic part of the esophagus couses in a vertical,
straight line.    

 Hint What major structures are related to it?

62. What is the function of the papillary muscles?    

 Hint What would happen to blood on contraction of the ventricle if they weren't there?

63. The splanchnic nerves contain postganglionic sympathetic fibers.    

 Hint This is an exception to the rule.

64. The greater splanchnic nerve arises from T1-4.    

 Hint Lower.

65. The pulmonary artery carries arterial blood.    

 Hint This is another exception to the rule.

66. True ribs are by definition those which can be palpated.    

 Hint Can you palpate the 10th rib?

67. The accessory hemiazygos vein usually enters the left atrium.    

 Hint Does it carry oxygenated blood?

68. Do you know in detail the lymphatic drainage of the mammary gland?    

 Hint Remember CLASP.