Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)
Stomach
Gaster (Ventriculus)
- Origin
- Intraperitoneal J-shaped organ located in the left hypochondrium and epigastrium, beginning at the gastroesophageal junction (cardia, T11)
- Insertion
- Terminates at the pylorus at the L1 transpyloric plane to enter the duodenum
- Function
- Mechanical churning of food, chemical digestion via gastric acid (HCl) and pepsin, synthesis of intrinsic factor for vitamin B12 absorption, and reservoir function
- Innervation
- Parasympathetic via anterior and posterior vagal trunks; sympathetic from celiac plexus (T6-T9)
- Movement & chain
- Trituration and receptive relaxation followed by coordinated antral peristalsis and pulsatile pyloric emptying
- Palpation
- Epigastric palpation for tenderness, masses, and tympany in Traube's space
- Clinical
- Peptic ulcer disease (PUD, H. pylori or NSAID-induced; risk of perforation or acute upper GI bleeding), gastric adenocarcinoma, gastroparesis, pyloric stenosis.
- Segmental innervation
- T6-T9 dermatomes (epigastric pain with dorsal radiation)
- In clinical practice
- Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) administration, nasogastric decompression in bowel obstruction, recognizing melena and coffee-ground emesis, managing dumping syndrome post-bariatric surgery
- Region in the model
- Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)