Incisions

The anatomy of the chest wall is depicted in color illustrations, including bony structures as well as muscles, along with their blood supply and innervation. Their relationship to internal thoracic organs is demonstrated to permit an understanding of the three-dimensional anatomy. A variety of incisions useful in thoracic surgery are illustrated and how to do them is described in detail, including lateral and posterolateral thoracotomy, muscle-sparing thoracotomy, anterior thoracotomy, and axillary thoracotomy; sternotomy and a variety of partial sternotomies; and extended approaches to intrathoracic pathology such as trap door incisions and transverse sternothoracotomy.