Visible Human, Coronal Section/Anterior ThoraxYou selected: pericardiumThe heart is surrounded by a thick fibrous membrane - the pericardium. A small amount of fluid exists in the space between the beating heart and this membrane. Should the amount of fluid increase, due to infections (pericarditis) or rupture of the heart muscle as can happen with serious damage to the heart muscle, a life-threatening condition called cardiac tamponade can occur. Due to the limited space, the increased fluid prevents the heart from filling with blood and pumping it to the body.lung | left ventricle | right ventricle | diaphragm | stomach | liver | pectoralis major | Information Module Name: a_vmY1649 Module Title: Visible Human, Coronal Section/Anterior Thorax Image Info: Computer generated from gross transverse sections. Created by: Lynn Bry Contact Email:bryl@medicine.wustl.edu Last modified: Feb 7th, 1997 Created with Annotation 1.0 |