Synonyms in a broader sense
ancient Greek: Stomachos Greek: Gaster Latin: Ventriculus
Definition
The stomach is, formally speaking, a sac of the digestive tract, which lies between the esophagus and the intestine and has the task of storing and mixing food. This muscular hollow organ produces gastric acid (HCL) and enzymes that pre-digest some of the food components (chemically break down), and then pass the food chyme on in portions to the small intestine. The stomach is usually located in the left and middle upper abdomen directly below the diaphragm.
The position, size and shape of the stomach varies greatly from person to person and depending on age, filling status, body position. With moderate filling, the stomach is on average 25-30 cm long and has a storage capacity of 1.5 and in extreme cases even up to 2.5 liters. The stomach is attached to the abdominal cavity by ligaments that extend to the liver and spleen, among others, and is thus stabilized.
The stomach lies curved like a fishing hook in the abdominal cavity, and forms with its convex side the great gastric curvature (great gastric curvature/curvartura major) and with its concave side the small gastric curvature (small gastric curvature/curvatura minor). You can divide the stomach into different sections:
- Gastric entranceCardiaOstium cardiacum:The upper gastric mouth is an area of 1-2 cm where the esophagus enters the stomach. This is where the sharp transition from the esophageal mucosa to the stomach mucosa is located, which can usually be easily seen with an endoscope.
- Gastric fundus gastricus: Above the stomach entrance the gastric fundus bulges upwards, which is also called “gastric dome” or fornix (bulge) gastricus.
The bottom of the stomach is usually filled with air, which is swallowed involuntarily while eating. In an upright standing person, the bottom of the stomach forms the highest point of the stomach, so that the collected air can be seen particularly impressively in the X-ray image as a “stomach bubble”.
- Stomach bodyCorpus gastricum:The main part of the stomach is formed by the gastric body. Here lie deep longitudinal folds of mucous membrane (Plicae gastricae), which run from the entrance of the stomach to the gatekeeper and are also called the “gastric road”.
- Gatekeeper sectionPars pylorica:This section begins with an extended anteroom, the gatehouse (Antrum pyloricum), followed by the gatehouse canal (Canalis pyloricus) and ends with the actual stomach gatehouse (Pylorus). Here lies the stomach sphincter (Muskulus sphinkter pylori), which is formed by a strong ring-shaped muscle layer and closes the lower stomach mouth (Ostium pyloricum). The pylorus closes the stomach outlet and periodically allows some food pulp (chymus) to pass into the duodenum.
- Esophagus (esophagus)
- Cardia
- Corpus
- Small Curvature
- Fundus
- Large Curvature
- Duodenum (duodenum)
- Pylorus
- Antrum
- Throat
- Esophageal esophagus
- Gastric entrance at diaphragm level (diaphragm)
- Stomach (Gaster)
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