Geert Kleinnibbelink

Chapter 1 14 Figure 2 . Schematic overview of the circulation as it is seen nowadays with the heart highlighted in the upper right panel (source: Betts et al. (2013) 3 ) The heart: a tale of two sides The heart is located within the thoracic cavity in the middle mediastinum with the dorsal surface near to the bodies of the vertebrae and the anterior surface close to the sternum and ribs. 3 The base of heart is located at the level of the third rib and the apex lies just to the left of the sternum between the fifth intercostal space. The right side of the heart is deflected anteriorly, and the left side is deflected posteriorly. The size of the heart is