It is conventionally considered that because of their fiber orientations, the external intercostal muscles elevate the ribs, whereas the internal interosseous intercostals lower the ribs. The mechanical action of the intercostal muscles, however, has never been studied directly, and the electromyographic observations supporting this conventional thinking must be interpreted with caution. In the...

Conventional wisdom maintains that the diaphragm lifts the lower ribs during isolated contraction. Recent studies in dogs have shown, however, that supramaximal, tetanic stimulation of the phrenic nerves displaces the lower ribs caudally and inward. In the present study, the hypothesis was tested that the action of the canine diaphragm on these ribs depends on the magnitude of muscle activation...

a seven year-old boy with several painless masses on the ribs and shoulder was referred to our hospital. the masses were so prominent that they prevented the child’s sleep. since the patient had been ridiculed by his friends due to the rib prominences, he had refused to attend school. after clinical and radiological evaluations, the masses were diagnosed as hereditary multiple exostoses of the ...

Cervical ribs are an anomaly that arise from the lowest cervical vertebrae but their relationship to thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is not so constant that the two conditions should be seen as synonymous. Perhaps no more than 10% of people who have cervical ribs develop TOS and the syndrome may well occur in the absence of ribs. Diagnosis of TOS may be difficult and depends upon a thorough hist...

Introduction: The elastic modulus of human rib bone derived from tensile coupon tests (13.9GPa) could be too high for applications in Finite Element (FE) modeling of the human thorax, as the homogenous elements lack the microstructure of typical rib bone. In this study MicroCT scans of ribs from three cadavers were used to determine homogenized elastic moduli of ribs that could be applied to so...

Reconstruction of large chest wall defects always demand surgeons of having lots of means available (both materials and resourceful) to apply a cover to chest wall defects which can range from a few centimeters to the lack of a few entire ribs. In this study, we present the case of a teenager who suffered from a complete resection of three ribs because of Ewing sarcoma dependent on the sixth ri...