How to Locate the Thymus Gland on a Body

The thymus is a small gland under your breastbone in the upper part of your chest. The thymus is responsible for making a certain type of white blood cell before birth and during childhood---these white blood cells help protect you from infections. Locating the thymus is relatively easy, although you cannot feel it because it resides under your breastbone. The thymus has two lobes which can be together or slightly apart. At its largest (during puberty), the thymus is about five centimeters long (a little less than two inches).

Instructions

Locate the thymus gland

1. Draw an imaginary line extending horizontally from the armpit to the center of the chest, underneath the breastbone. This is the lowest point of the area in your chest where the thymus can sit.

2. Mark an imaginary line that starts about two or three inches below the Adam's apple in the neck. This is the highest part of the area in your chest where the thymus can sit -- usually at the front or side of the windpipe, near the thyroid gland.

3. Locate the heart within the chest. The thymus usually rests on top of the pericardium, the sac that contains the heart and the large blood vessels that feed the heart.

References

• Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body