What is below the rib cage?

We all know that the chest cavity is a very important part of the human body, because there are two most important organs here. The first organ is the heart, and the second organ is the lungs, neither of which is indispensable. Sometimes some abnormal conditions may occur in the chest cavity, such as pleural effusion, etc., and correct treatment is necessary at this time. So the question is, what is below the rib cage?

The area below the chest is usually considered the upper abdomen. There are many organs in the upper abdomen, including the stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, gallbladder, etc. Chest pain is a common symptom. There are many causes of chest pain, mainly due to lesions in the chest wall, pleura, lungs, cardiovascular system, mediastinum, esophagus and diaphragm. In addition, intercostal neuropathy often causes chest pain. Therefore, diagnosis is rather difficult and often requires differentiation and identification based on the nature of the chest pain, accompanying symptoms, location and time of occurrence, etc.

Introduction to thoracentesis

Why is thoracentesis necessary? First of all, we should know the role of thoracentesis in the diagnosis and treatment of chest diseases. In the clinical work of pulmonary medicine, thoracentesis is a common, convenient and simple diagnostic and treatment method. For example: Through examination, we found that there was fluid accumulation in the patient's pleural cavity. We can extract the fluid through thoracentesis and conduct various examinations to find the cause of the disease. If there is a lot of fluid in the cavity, compressing the lungs or the fluid accumulates for too long, the fibrin in it will easily become sclerotic and cause the two layers of pleura to adhere, thus affecting the respiratory function of the lungs. At this time, we also need to puncture and drain the accumulated fluid. If necessary, drugs can be injected to achieve therapeutic purposes. For example, if pleural effusion is caused by cancer, we inject anti-cancer drugs to play an anti-cancer effect.

If there is too much gas in the chest cavity and the pleural cavity has changed from negative pressure to positive pressure, then this operation can also be used to reduce the pressure and draw out the gas. If the patient's bronchus and pleural cavity are connected, we will inject a blue drug (called methylene blue, which is harmless to the human body) into the chest cavity through a puncture needle. Then, the patient will cough up blue liquid (including sputum) when coughing. At this time, we can confirm that the patient has bronchopleural fistula. Bronchopleural fistula is a pathological channel established when lung lesions involve the bronchi, alveoli and pulmonary pleura. It is a channel that runs through the mouth → trachea → bronchi at all levels → alveoli → visceral pleura → pleural cavity.