UPPER PART
Cervical esophagus starts at inferior margin of cricoid cartilage that corresponds to corpus of 6th cervical vertebra.
This level is marked by a carotid tubercula named which is an important landmark in cervical esophagectomy. Cervical esophagus ends at inferior edge of first dorsal vertebra that comes up to a horizontal plane of jugular incisura of sternum. The endpoint is the starting point of upper mediastinum, and from this point it is thoracic esophagus. Cervical esophagus is 5–6 cm long, and its luminal diameter is 1.4–1.5 cm at its narrowest point.
CERVICAL ESOPHAGUS CONSISTS OF
MIDDLE PART
The THORACIC ESOPHAGUSThoracic esophagus. Measuring 16–18 cm in length, thoracic esophagus is in upper and posterior mediastinum. Running from 1st to 11th dorsal vertebra, it does not fit concavity of vertebral column. However, it changes location to left gradually from start to end.
The esophagus lies posterior to the trachea and the heart and passes through the mediastinum and the hiatus, an opening in the diaphragm, in its descent from the thoracic to the abdominal cavity.