Esophageal hiatus

Dr Jeremy Jones ◉ et al.

The esophageal hiatus is the opening in the diaphragm through which the esophagus passes from the thoracic to abdominal cavity. It is one of three apertures in the diaphragm and is located in the right crus.

It is situated in the muscular part of the diaphragm at the level of T10 and is elliptical in shape. It is located above, in front and a little to the left of the aortic hiatus, slightly to the left of midline. The vena caval foramen is located to its right (right of midline) and marginally anterior to it.

It transmits several structures including the esophagus:

esophagus
vagus nerves
small esophageal arteries

The vertebral levels of the 3 main diaphragmatic apertures can be remembered by this mnemonic.

Quiz questions

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
  - atrial septum
    - fossa ovale
  - endocardium
  - myocardium
  - pericardium
    - epicardium
    - epicardial fat pad
    - 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
- 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: 5762

System: Gastrointestinal, Vascular, Chest

Section: Anatomy

Synonyms or Alternate Spellings:

Esophageal hiatus

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Cases and figures

Figure 1 : diaphragm (undersurface)Figure 1 : diaphragm (undersurface)

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