With your knife, puncture the diaphragm while listening for air to rush into the chest cavity. Normally the chest cavity is under negative pressure, keeping the lungs inflated. After death, there should still be negative pressure in the chest cavity unless there has been trauma to the chest.
Now cut the entire right side of the diaphragm away from the rib cage. This allows for the first look into the chest cavity.
Click here to see a clip of the diaphragm being cut. Click the "back" button on your browser to return to this page
With the
rib (AKA bush) cutters or an ax, cut the ribs along the incision you just
created in the muscle. There are 13 ribs that will need to be cut.
Lift up on
the rib cage while cutting any tissue attaching the ribs at the incision
site.
Create a handle by cutting a hole in the muscles between the center of
the ribs.
Click the photo to the left to view cutting the ribs
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Push down on the ribs, fracturing them at the junction between bone and cartilage. This will create a tray that may be used as a cutting platform during the necropsy.
Click on the photo below to view the creation of the rib platform
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Now both the abdominal and chest cavities are exposed and can be examined for abnormalities. Any samples needed for culture (bacteria, virus, etc.…) should be taken now to decrease the amount of contamination of the sample.
