Journal of anatomy
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Thoracic ratios (TRs) were measured segmentally (T1-12) in the chest radiographs of 412 children aged 0-17 years attending hospital with minimal disorder or diseases (boys 193, girls 219). A new method for measuring TRs was used which calculates the width of the left hemithorax, the right hemithorax and the total thorax relative to T1-T12 distance. The data were analysed in 3 age groups--infancy, childhood and puberty, after the classification of Karlberg (1989). ⋯ Thoracic asymmetry favouring the right chest is found, and more so in puberty than childhood which is connected with the larger size of the thorax and lung in the adult. 8. The evidence suggests that hemithoracic development is caudocranial; this is consistent with an adaptation of the human ribcage to control spinal rotation and counterrotation when bipedal gait was acquired in evolution. 9. In progressive infantile idiopathic scoliosis, the upper chest is funnel-shaped.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)