Descending thoracic aorta at a glance
- What it is
- The descending thoracic aorta is the part of the aorta in the posterior mediastinum.
- Location
- It starts at the level of the T4-T5 intervertebral disc, descends to the left of the vertebral column and passes through the diaphragm at T12. Its branches include the posterior intercostal, subcostal, bronchial, esophageal and mediastinal arteries.
- Function
- It supplies the chest wall, esophagus and bronchi.
- Body system
- Cardiovascular · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA87217 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It ends at the aortic hiatus of the diaphragm.
- It gives nine pairs of posterior intercostal arteries (spaces 3–11) and the subcostal arteries.
- It lies to the left of the oesophagus above, then passes behind it as it descends.
Clinical relevance
Type B aortic dissection begins in the descending aorta beyond the left subclavian artery.
Structures next to the descending thoracic aorta
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Coronary sinus · cardiovascular
- Intervertebral disk of seventh thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Cavity of atrium · cardiovascular
- Azygos vein · cardiovascular
- Posterior leaflet of mitral valve · cardiovascular
- External intercostal muscle · muscular
- Intervertebral disk of sixth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Inferior pulmonary vein · cardiovascular
- Main bronchus proper · respiratory
- Wall of atrium · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Descending thoracic aorta (FMA87217). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.