Content of mediastinum

Looks like

Everything packed in the central chest space between the lungs.

What it does

The heart, great vessels, windpipe, gullet, thymus, nerves and lymph nodes that link the neck, chest and belly.

Keeping it well

CT scans the mediastinum for enlarged lymph nodes or tumours, e.g. when staging lung cancer.

Its parts

• Content of inferior mediastinum

Related conditions

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Hypothermia & frostbite
• Kawasaki disease
• Metabolic syndrome
• Orthostatic hypotension & POTS
• Peripheral artery disease
• Phaeochromocytoma & hyperaldosteronism
• Pre-eclampsia
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Sepsis
• Shock (circulatory failure)
• Vasculitis (GCA & others)