Review: Anatomy of the UGI Tract

Here is what we have learned from Anatomy of the UGI Tract:

• There are two different sub site descriptions for the esophagus:
  • Sub site description 1 divides the esophagus into three segments or regions: cervical, thoracic, and abdominal.
  • Sub site description 2 divides the esophagus into three portions: the upper third, middle third, and lower third.
• The stomach lies just below the diaphragm in the upper part of the abdominal cavity primarily to the left of the midline under a portion of the liver, and its main divisions are the cardia, the fundus, the body, and the pyloric antrum.
• The small intestine is a tube measuring about 2.5 cm in diameter and over 600 cm (20 feet) in length, and it has three divisions: duodenum, jejunum, and ileum.
• Small aggregates of lymphoid tissue called Peyer patches are found in the lamina propria of the small intestine, mainly in the distal ileum.
• The esophageal wall contains four layers: mucosa, submucosa, muscularis, adventitia.
• Layers of the stomach wall, among others, include serosa, muscularis, submucosa, mucosa.
• The three layers of smooth muscle consists of the outer longitudinal, the middle circular, and the inner oblique muscles.
• Esophageal lymph nodes include cervical, upper and middle thoracic, and lower thoracic lymph nodes.
• Regional lymph nodes of the stomach include inferior (right) gastric, splenic, superior (left) gastric, perigastric, celiac, and hepatic lymph nodes.
• Hepatic, superior mesenteric, and posterior cecal and ileocolic nodes are regional lymph nodes for the small intestine.