Diaphragm at a glance
- What it is
- The dome-shaped muscle separating the thoracic and abdominal cavities and the main muscle of inspiration.
- Location
- Origin: xiphoid process (sternal part), lower six costal cartilages (costal part) and lumbar vertebrae and arcuate ligaments (lumbar part). Insertion: central tendon.
- Function
- Contracts and flattens to enlarge the thorax and draw air into the lungs; also raises abdominal pressure.
- Body system
- Muscular · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA13295 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: phrenic nerve (C3–C5)
- Blood supply: pericardiacophrenic, musculophrenic and inferior phrenic arteries
- Openings include the caval opening (T8), esophageal hiatus (T10) and aortic hiatus (T12)
Clinical relevance
A hiatal hernia occurs when part of the stomach protrudes through the esophageal hiatus.
Structures next to the diaphragm
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Celiac artery · cardiovascular
- Celiac trunk · cardiovascular
- Common hepatic artery · cardiovascular
- Hepatic portal vein · cardiovascular
- Pre-hepatic portal vein · cardiovascular
- Inferior vena cava · cardiovascular
- Trunk of gastroduodenal artery · cardiovascular
- Cystic duct · digestive
- Hepatic artery proper · cardiovascular
- Gastric vein · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Diaphragm (FMA13295). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. 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.