Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)
Urinary bladder
Vesica urinaria
- Origin
- Subperitoneal hollow muscular organ located in the lesser pelvis behind the pubic symphysis
- Insertion
- Tapers inferiorly into the bladder neck to join the urethra; receives bilateral ureters at the trigone
- Function
- Stores urine (normal capacity 300-500 mL) and empties via coordinated contraction of the detrusor muscle and relaxation of the internal and external urethral sphincters
- Innervation
- Vesical plexus (parasympathetic pelvic splanchnic S2-S4 triggers detrusor contraction; sympathetic T11-L2 maintains continence; somatic pudendal nerve S2-S4 innervates external sphincter)
- Movement & chain
- Accommodation and detrusor contraction cycle
- Palpation
- Palpable and dull to percussion in the suprapubic area when distended (urinary globe)
- Clinical
- Urinary tract infection (cystitis), acute urinary retention, urothelial cell carcinoma (painless gross hematuria), neurogenic bladder dysfunction.
- Segmental innervation
- S2-S4 and T11-L2 spinal levels
- In clinical practice
- Bladder ultrasound scanning for post-void residual (PVR), sterile Foley catheter insertion and care, suprapubic catheter site maintenance
- Region in the model
- Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)