Oblique pericardial sinus

Assoc Prof Craig Hacking ◉ ◈ et al.

The oblique pericardial sinus is a blind-ending pericardial cul-de-sac behind the heart which opens into the pericardial space proper inferiorly.

Gross anatomy

Its boundaries are:

right (in ascending order): inferior vena cava, right inferior pulmonary vein and right superior pulmonary vein
superior: it is separated from the transverse pericardial sinus above by a double reflection of serous pericardium that extends transversely between the left and right superior pulmonary veins
left (in ascending order): left inferior pulmonary vein and left superior pulmonary vein

Anteriorly lies the heart, specifically the posterior wall of the left atrium and posteriorly the pericardium and esophagus.

Several pericardial recesses form small pockets that may extend from or towards the oblique sinus, which may mimic mediastinal lymph nodes or disease:

aortic recesses
- superior aortic recess
- inferior aortic recess
pulmonic recesses
- right pulmonic recess
- left pulmonic recess
postcaval recess
pulmonary venous recesses
- right pulmonary venous recess
- left pulmonary venous recess

References

Anatomy: Thoracic

Anatomy: Thoracic

thoracic skeleton
- thoracic cage
  - ribs
    - typical ribs
    - atypical ribs
    - variant anatomy
  - costal cartilage
  - sternum
- thoracic spine
- articulations
muscles of the thorax
spaces of the thorax
thoracic viscera
- tracheobronchial tree
  - trachea
- lungs
- heart
  - cardiac chambers
  - heart valves
  - pectinate muscles
  - cardiac fibrous skeleton
    - aortic annulus
  - coronary arteries
    - coronary arterial dominance
    - myocardial segments
    - left main coronary artery (LMCA)
      - ramus intermedius artery (RI)
      - circumflex artery (LCx)
        
        obtuse marginal branches (OM1, OM2, etc))
        
        Kugel's artery
      - left anterior descending artery (LAD)
        
        diagonal branches (D1, D2, etc)
        
        septal perforators (S1, S2, etc)
    - right coronary artery (RCA)
      - conus artery
      - sinoatrial nodal artery
      - acute marginal branches (AM1, AM2, etc)
      - inferior interventricular artery (PDA)
      - posterior left ventricular artery (PLV)
    - congenital anomalies
  - innervation of the heart
  - fetal circulation
    - foramen ovale
    - fossa ovale
  - pericardium
    - pericardial space
    - oblique pericardial sinus
    - transverse pericardial sinus
    - pericardial recesses
      - aortic recesses
        
        superior aortic recess
        
        inferior aortic recess
      - pulmonic recesses
        
        right pulmonic recess
        
        left pulmonic recess
      - postcaval recess
      - pulmonary venous recesses
        
        right pulmonary venous recess
        
        left pulmonary venous recess
    - pericardial ligaments
    - epicardial fat pad
- esophagus
  - Zenker diverticulum
  - Killian-Jamieson diverticulum
- thymus
  - retrocaval thymus
- breast
  - nipple-areola complex
  - terminal ductal lobular unit
  - axillary tail
    - foramen of Langer
  - mammary fat
  - Montgomery glands
    - Montgomery tubercles
  - Cooper ligaments
    - crests of Duret
  - retromammary space (Chassaignac bursa)
  - lymphatic drainage
    - Sappey plexus
    - intramammary lymph nodes
  - variants
    - supranumerary nipple (polythelia)
    - accessory breast tissue (polymastia)
    - breast hypoplasia
    - amastia
    - amazia
blood supply of the thorax
- arteries
  - thoracic aorta (development)
  - pulmonary trunk
    - left pulmonary artery
      - aberrant left pulmonary artery
    - right pulmonary artery
- veins
  - superior vena cava (SVC)
    - superior cavoatrial junction
    - variant anatomy
  - inferior vena cava (IVC)
    - inferior cavoatrial junction
  - coronary veins
    - cardiac veins which drain into the coronary sinus
      - great cardiac vein
      - middle cardiac vein
      - small cardiac vein
      - posterior vein of the left ventricle
      - vein of Marshall (oblique vein of the left atrium)
    - anterior cardiac veins
    - venae cordis minimae (smallest cardiac veins or thebesian veins)
  - pulmonary veins
    - bronchial veins
  - thoracoepigastric vein
lymphatics
innervation of the thorax

Article information

rID: 54165

System: Cardiac

Section: Anatomy

Synonyms or Alternate Spellings:

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