Location of the Heart.
The heart is situated beneath the sternum or the breast bone in a thoracic compartment called the mediastinum and fits smugly between the lungs. It lies in the center of the chest with a slight tilt which makes more of the heart lie towards the left side of the chest.
Two-thirds of the heart is situated on the left side of the midline of the body with one-third on the right. That is the reason why the left lung (which has two lobes) is smaller than the right lung (which has three lobes) because the heart with its blood vessels is situated more on the left side of the sternum than on the right.
Relative Anatomy of the Heart Location.
- Towards the rear of the heart is the vertebral column,
- In front of it is the sternum and the rib cage,
- On either side are the lungs,
- Below, the heart rests on the diaphragm.
Picture of heart location.
Dextrocardia.
Rarely, in some people, this is reversed and the heart may lie more on the right side of the chest with its apex also pointing towards the right instead of the left. This is called dextrocardia.
This is a congenital formation (formed during development of the fetus) and presents no symptoms if the heart is normal. But, usually, it is found that dextrocardia is associated with heart defects.
Dextrocardia is believed to occur in 1 out of 12,000 people. It often puzzles the doctor when he puts his stethoscope on the left side of the chest to listen to the heart sounds and cannot hear them. Dextrocardia is detected and confirmed when investigations are carried out such as a chest x ray or an ECG.
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