Abdominal Cavity

Prep By LECT: S HASSAN

ASKARI
 Abdominal Cavity
Liver
The liver is a large organ that occupies the upper part of
the abdominal cavity. It lies almost entirely under the cover
of the ribs and costal cartilages and extends across the
epigastric region. The liver is the largest gland in the body
and has a wide variety of functions.
Three of its basic functions are production and secretion of
bile, which is passed into the intestinal tract; involvement in
many metabolic activities related to carbohydrate, fat, and
protein metabolism; and filtration of the blood, removing
bacteria and other foreign particles that have gained
entrance to the blood from the lumen of the intestine.
 Abdominal Cavity
The liver synthesizes heparin, an
anticoagulant substance, and has an
important detoxicating function. It produces
bile pigments from the hemoglobin of worn-
out red blood corpuscles and secretes bile
salts; these together are conveyed to the
duodenum by the biliary ducts.
The liver is soft and pliable and occupies the
upper part of the abdominal cavity just
beneath the diaphragm.
 Abdominal Cavity
The greater part of the liver is situated under cover
of the right costal margin, and the right
hemidiaphragm separates it from the pleura, lungs,
pericardium, and heart.
The liver may be divided into a large right lobe
and a small left lobe by the attachment of the
peritoneum of the falciform ligament.
The right lobe is further divided into a quadrate
lobe and a caudate lobe by the presence of the
gallbladder, the fissure for the ligamentum teres,
the inferior vena cava, and the fissure for the
ligamentum venosum.
 Abdominal Cavity
Gallbladder
The gallbladder is a pear-shaped sac that is adherent to
the undersurface of the right lobe of the liver; its blind end,
or fundus, projects below the inferior border of the liver.
Esophagus
The esophagus is a tubular structure that joins the pharynx
to the stomach. The esophagus pierces the diaphragm
slightly to the left of the midline and after a short course of
about 0.5 in. (1.25 cm) enters the stomach on its right side.
It is deeply placed, lying behind the left lobe of the liver
 Abdominal Cavity
Stomach
The stomach is a dilated part of the
alimentary canal between the esophagus
and the small intestine. It occupies the left
upper quadrant, epigastric, and umbilical
regions, and much of it lies under cover of
the ribs.
Its long axis passes downward and forward
to the right and then backward and slightly
upward.
 Abdominal Cavity
Much of the stomach lies under cover of the
lower ribs. It is roughly J-shaped and has
two openings, the cardiac and pyloric
orifices; two curvatures, the greater and
lesser curvatures; and two surfaces,an
anterior and a posterior surface.
The stomach is relatively fixed at both ends
but is very mobile in between.
 Abdominal Cavity
The lesser curvature forms the right
border of the stomach and extends from
the cardiac orifice to the pylorus. It is
suspended from the liver by the lesser
omentum.
The greater curvature is much longer
than the lesser curvature and extends from
the left of the cardiac orifice, over the dome
of the fundus, and along the left border of
the stomach to the pylorus
 Abdominal Cavity
The stomach is divided into the following parts.
Fundus: This is dome-shaped and projects upward
and to the left of the cardiac orifice. It is usually full of gas.
Body: This extends from the level of the cardiac orifice
to the level of the incisura angularis, a constant notch in
the lower part of the lesser curvature.
Pyloric antrum: This extends from the incisura
angularis to the pylorus.
Pylorus: This is the most tubular part of the
stomach. The thick muscular wall is called the pyloric
sphincter, and the cavity of the pylorus is the pyloric
canal
 Abdominal Cavity
Small Intestine
The small intestine is divided into three regions:
duodenum, jejunum, and ileum.
The duodenum is the first part of the small
intestine, and most of it is deeply placed on the
posterior abdominal wall. It is situated in the
epigastric and umbilical regions. It is a C-shaped
tube that extends from the stomach around the
head of the pancreas to join the jejunum. About
halfway down its length, the small intestine
receives the bile and the pancreatic ducts.
 Abdominal Cavity
The small intestine has no fatty tags attached to its
wall. The large intestine has fatty tags, called the
appendices epiploicae.
The wall of the small intestine is smooth,
whereas that of the large intestine is sacculated.
The mucous membrane of the small intestine has
permanent folds, called plicae circulares, which
are absent in the large intestine.
The mucous membrane of the small intestine has
villi, which are absent in the large intestine.
 Abdominal Cavity
The jejunum and ileum together measure
about 20 ft (6 m) long; the upper two fifths
of this length make up the jejunum. The
jejunum begins at the duodenojejunal
junction, and the ileum ends at the ileocecal
junction.
The coils of jejunum occupy the upper left
part of the abdominal cavity, whereas the
ileum tends to occupy the lower right part of
the abdominal cavity and the pelvic cavity.
 Abdominal Cavity
Large Intestine
The large intestine is divided into the cecum, appendix, ascending
colon, transverse colon, descending colon, The cecum is a blind-
ended sac that projects downward in the right iliac region below the
ileocecal junction .

The appendix is a worm-shaped tube that arises from its medial side.

The ascending colon extends upward from the cecum to the

inferior surface of the right lobe of the liver, occupying the right lower
and upper quadrants. On reaching the liver, it bends to the left, forming
the right colic flexure.
 Abdominal Cavity
The transverse colon crosses the
abdomen in the umbilical region from the
right colic flexure to the left colic flexure. It
forms a wide U-shaped curve. In the erect
position, the lower part of the U may extend
down into the pelvis.
The transverse colon, on reaching the
region of the spleen, bends downward,
forming the left colic flexure to become the
descending colon.
 Abdominal Cavity
The descending colon extends from the left colic
flexure to the pelvis below. It occupies the left upper and
lower quadrants.
The sigmoid colon begins at the pelvic inlet, where it is
a continuation of the descending colon. It hangs down into
the pelvic cavity in the form of a loop. It joins the rectum in
front of the sacrum.
The rectum occupies the posterior part of the pelvic
cavity. It is continuous above with the sigmoid colon and
descends in front of the sacrum to leave the pelvis by
piercing the pelvic floor. Here, it becomes continuous with
the anal canal in the perineum.
 Abdominal Cavity
Pancreas
The pancreas is a soft, lobulated organ that
stretches obliquely across the posterior abdominal
wall in the epigastric region. It is situated behind
the stomach and extends from the duodenum to
the spleen.
Spleen
The spleen is a soft mass of lymphatic tissue that
occupies the left upper part of the abdomen
between the stomach and the diaphragm. It lies
along the long axis of the 10th left rib.
 Abdominal Cavity
Kidneys
The kidneys are two reddish brown organs
situated high up on the posterior abdominal
wall, one on each side of the vertebral
column. The left kidney lies slightly higher
than the right (because the left lobe of the
liver is smaller than the right). Each kidney
gives rise to a ureter that runs vertically
downward on the psoas muscle.
 Abdominal Cavity
Peritoneum:
The peritoneum is a thin serous membrane that lines the
walls of the abdominal and pelvic cavities and clothes the
viscera. The peritoneum can be regarded as a balloon
against which organs are pressed from outside.
The parietal peritoneum lines the walls of the abdominal
and pelvic cavities, and the visceral peritoneum covers
the organs. The potential space between the parietal and
visceral layers, which is in effect the inside space of the
balloon, is called the peritoneal cavity. In males, this is a
closed cavity, but in females, there is communication with
the exterior through the uterine tubes, the uterus, and the
vagina.
 Abdominal Cavity
Omenta
Omenta are two-layered folds of peritoneum that connect
the stomach to another viscus.
The greater omentum connects the greater curvature of
the stomach to the transverse colon. It hangs down like an
apron in front of the coils of the small intestine and is folded
back on itself to be attached to the transverse colon.
The lesser omentum suspends the lesser curvature of
the stomach from the fissure of the ligamentum venosum
and the porta hepatis on the undersurface of the liver. The
gastrosplenic omentum (ligament) connects the
stomach to the hilum of the spleen.
 Abdominal Cavity
Mesenteries
Mesenteries are two-layered folds of peritoneum
connecting parts of the intestines to the posterior
abdominal wall, for example, the mesentery of
the small intestine, the transverse mesocolon,
and the sigmoid mesocolon.
The peritoneal ligaments, omenta, and
mesenteries permit blood, lymph vessels, and
nerves to reach the viscera.
The extent of the peritoneum and the peritoneal
cavity should be studied in the transverse and
sagittal sections of the abdomen.
Thank You