Costal cartilage

Last revised by Raymond Chieng on 18 Oct 2023

The costal cartilages form part of the thoracic cage and anterior chest wall. There are ten costal cartilages bilaterally, one for each of the corresponding 1st to 10th ribs, and each of the first seven ribs forms one of the seven costochondral joints.

Costal cartilages 1-7 articulate with the sternum at sternocostal joints, and costal cartilages 8-10 are attached to each other via small interchondral synovial joints forming the costal margin

Calcifications of the costal cartilages in males are located at the margins while the calcifications of coastal cartilages in females are tongue-like 3.

Related pathology

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