Anatom3DLeft second rib
Costa secunda sinistra · Levé druhé žebro
Skeleton
Looks like
A long curved rib joining the breastbone at the angle where the handle meets the body (the sternal angle).
What it does
Part of the cage around the upper lungs; its front end is the landmark for counting ribs.
Keeping it well
Doctors find it by feeling the bump of the sternal angle, then count down from it, for example to place a chest drain safely.
Related conditions
- Acromegaly
- Fractures
- Fragility fracture
- Frailty & falls in older age
- Hyperparathyroidism
- Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
- Osteomalacia & rickets
- Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
- Osteoporosis
- Paget's disease of bone
- Pleural effusion
- Pneumothorax
- Sarcoma
- Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
- Vitamin D deficiency