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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2008;22(4):601–616. doi: 10.1016/j.bpg.2007.12.007

Figure 1.

Figure 1

The most common anatomy of the diaphragmatic hiatus in which the muscular elements of the crural diaphragm derive from the right diaphragmatic crus. The right crus arises from the anterior longitudinal ligament overlying the lumbar vertebrae. Once muscular elements emerge from the tendon, two flat muscular bands form that cross each other in scissor-like fashion, form the walls of the hiatus, and decussate with each other anterior to the esophagus. Modified from Jaffee BM, Surgery of the esophagus. In Orlando RC Ed. Atlas of Esophageal Diseases, Second Edition. pp 223–242.