Anatomy of the Vessels and Nerves of the Trunk (Angioneurology) - Chornokulskyi S. T. 2011

Cardiovascular System
Pericardium

is the fibrous-serous receptacle (sac) of The Heart. It comprises an outer fibrous layer, the fibrous pericardium (pericardium fibrosum), and an inner serous layer, the serous pericardium (pericardium serosum).

The fibrous pericardium fuses with adjacent structures and continues into the adventitia of the great vessels at the Base of the heart. The sternopericardial ligaments (ligg. sternopericardiaca) are located between the posterior surface of the Sternum and the pericardium.

Like a typical serous membrane (such as the Peritoneum or Pleura), the serous pericardium consists of two layers:    

✵ the parietal layer (lamina parietalis) and

✵ the visceral layer (lamina visceralis), also known as the epicardium.

The subserous layer (tela subserosa) lies between the visceral layer and the myocardium. The visceral and parietal layers transition seamlessly into one another near the great vessels at the base of the heart, enclosing the pericardial cavity (cavitas pericardiaca). Within this cavity, there are the transverse and oblique pericardial sinuses (sinus transversus et obliquus pericardii). The transverse pericardial sinus is located between the ascending aorta and pulmonary trunk anteriorly, and the SUPERIOR VENA CAVA posteriorly. The oblique pericardial sinus is bounded by the bases of the left Pulmonary Veins on the left and the INFERIOR VENA CAVA on the right. The pericardial cavity contains approximately 15–20 ml of clear serous fluid.



Last update: 11/08/2026

Editorial and Educational Adaptation: This material has been compiled based on the primary/original source text. The project team performed an editorial review, corrected technical inaccuracies, structured sections, and adapted the content for an educational format.

What was processed:

  • elimination of formatting defects (OCR errors, structural breaks, corrupted characters);
  • editorial organization of content;
  • standardization of terminology in accordance with academic sources;
  • verification of factual statements against the original source text.

All mentions of the author, publication year, and origin of the primary text have been preserved in accordance with the source.