Abdominal wall

Abdominal wall
Body cavities
Diagram of sheath of Rectus above the arcuate line.
Details
Latin	paries abdominalis
Identifiers
TA
TH	{{#property:P1694}}
TE	{{#property:P1693}}
FMA	{{#property:P1402}}
Anatomical terminology [[[d:|edit on Wikidata]]]

In anatomy, the abdominal wall represents the boundaries of the abdominal cavity. The abdominal wall is split into the posterior (back), lateral (sides) and anterior (front) walls.

There is a common set of layers covering and forming all the walls: the deepest being the extraperitoneal fat, the parietal peritoneum, and a layer of fascia, which has different names according to what it covers (e.g., transversalis, psoas fascia).

In medical vernacular, the abdominal wall most commonly refers to the layers composing the anterior abdominal wall which, in addition to the layers mentioned above, includes the three layers of muscle: the transversus abdominis (transverse abdominal muscle), the internal (obliquus internus) and the external oblique (obliquus externus).

Layers of anterior abdominal wall

In human anatomy, the layers of the abdominal wall are (from superficial to deep):

• Skin
• Subcutaneous tissue
• Fascia
  • Camper's fascia - fatty superficial layer.
  • Scarpa's fascia - deep fibrous layer.
• Muscle
  • External oblique abdominal muscle
  • Internal oblique abdominal muscle
  • Rectus abdominis
  • Transverse abdominal muscle
  • Pyramidalis muscle
• Fascia transversalis
• Peritoneum

Inner surface

The surface contains several ligaments separated by fossae:

Ligament/fold	Remnant of	Lateral fossa	Hernia
median umbilical ligament	urachus	supravesical fossa	supravesical hernia (rare)
medial umbilical ligament	umbilical artery	medial inguinal fossa	direct inguinal hernia
lateral umbilical fold	inferior epigastric vessels	lateral inguinal fossa	indirect inguinal hernia

See also

• Abdominal exercise
• Human abdomen
• Peritoneum
• Terms for anatomical location

External links

• skel&wallsabd at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) - "Skeleton of the Abdomen", Wesley Norman, PhD, DSc
• Abdominal Wall at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
• Anterolateral Abdominal Wall - University of Edinburgh Faculty of Medicine
• Muscles of the Anterior Abdominal Wall - University of Arkansas