Intervertebral disk of eleventh thoracic vertebra at a glance
- What it is
- The intervertebral disc between T11 and T12 (the T11–T12 disc), a fibrocartilage pad with a gel-like nucleus pulposus inside a ring-like anulus fibrosus.
- Location
- Between the bodies of T11 and T12, the disc directly below the named vertebra (the T11/T12 disc).
- Function
- Absorbs compressive loads, acts as a shock absorber and allows slight movement between vertebrae.
- Body system
- Skeletal · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA13508 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It lies at the mobile thoracolumbar junction and is the single most common level for thoracic disc herniation.
- Thoracic discs are the thinnest in the column relative to their vertebral bodies, and the rib cage further limits movement, so thoracic disc herniation is rare (well under 1% of all disc herniations).
Structures next to the intervertebral disk of eleventh thoracic vertebra
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Descending aorta · cardiovascular
- Eleventh thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Hemiazygos vein · cardiovascular
- Twelfth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Intervertebral disk of tenth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Diaphragm · muscular
- Middle suprarenal artery · cardiovascular
- Tenth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Celiac artery · cardiovascular
- Celiac trunk · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Intervertebral disk of eleventh thoracic vertebra (FMA13508). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. 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.