The Location, Size, and Shape of the Heart

Author: Scott A. Sheffield MS

Last update: May 10th, 2023

The heart is located underneath the sternum in a thoracic compartment called the mediastinum, which occupies the space between the lungs.

The heart is approximately the size of a an adult’s fist and it weights 230-350 grams. It is shaped like an inverted cone. About two thirds of the heart’s mass is located to the left of the body’s midline.

Learn the anatomy of the heart from scratch with these interactive quizzes and free fill-in-the-blank exercises.

The narrow end of the heart, which is called the apex, is directed downward and to the left.

The apex is located at the approximate level of the fifth or sixth rib, just above the arch of the diaphragm.

The broad end of the heart is called the base and gives rise to the major blood vessels. It is directed upward and to the right and lies at the approximate level of the second rib.

Test yourself:

References

• Open Anatomy. (n.d.). TA2 Viewer. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from
• Moore, K. L. (2018). Clinically Oriented Anatomy (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
• Drake, R. L., Vogl, A. W., & Mitchell, A. W. M. (2015). Gray’s Anatomy for Students (3rd ed.). Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill Livingstone.
• Standring, S. (2021). Gray’s Anatomy (42tst ed.). Edinburgh: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.