Microvascularization of the sternum in children

46 sternums originating from 1-day- to 17-year-old children were injected with India ink and transparified. The intraosteal and medullary vasculature is described at different stages, as well as cartilage canals, vessels of the isolated ossification center, vessels of the ossification center connected with peripheral vascular structures or neighboring cartilage canals, and finally the transition to the adult pattern. With age, the centrifugal vascular distribution develops to a centripetal pattern.