Diaphragmatic apertures

Last revised by Henry Smith ◉ on 13 Apr 2018

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Jones J, Smith H, Hacking C, et al. Diaphragmatic apertures. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 07 Jun 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5765

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5765

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/5765

rID:

5765

Article created:

21 Mar 2009, Jeremy Jones ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Jeremy Jones had no recorded disclosures.

View Jeremy Jones's current disclosures

Last revised:

13 Apr 2018, Henry Smith ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Henry Smith had no recorded disclosures.

View Henry Smith's current disclosures

Revisions:

12 times, by 5 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Vascular, Chest

Sections:

Anatomy

Tags:

refs

The diaphragmatic apertures are a series of apertures that permit the passage of structures between the thoracic and abdominal cavities. There are three main apertures:

aortic hiatus (T12) (not a true aperture)
esophageal hiatus (T10)
vena caval foramen (T8)

The vertebral levels of these apertures can be remembered by this mnemonic or by the number of letters in the spelling of vena cava (8), esophagus (10) and aortic hiatus (12).

There are also several smaller lesser apertures.