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The heart and lungs are located in the thorax, or chest cavity. The heart pumps blood from the body to the lungs, where the blood is oxygenated. It then returns the blood to the heart, which pumps the freshly oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
Review Date 5/4/2026
Updated by: Andrew Schriber, MD, FCCP, Specialist in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly, New Jersey. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
