In most cases, the heart protrudes outside the chest through a split sternum.

The surgical approaches to the removal of the thymus gland include transsternal (through the sternum, transcervical (through a small neck incision), and transthoracic (through one or both sides of the chest).

In certain cases, bone may be cut to further access the interior of the body for example, cutting the skull for brain surgery or cutting the sternum for thoracic (chest) surgery to open up the rib cage.