Contents
Anterior Abdominal Wall
Sources:
- Lecture03-01-P17 - Anterior abdominal wall and scrotum.pdf
Anatomical significance
- Flexibility: can expand and contract to accommodate changes in internal contents;
- Helps expel faeces, flatus, foetus (and vomit);
- Acts as an accessory muscle of respiration;
- Underlying structures are palpable.
Dividing the abdomen
- Nine-region model:
- Vertical lines are formed by mid-clavicular lines on both sides.
- Horizontal lines are formed superiorly by a line below the costal margins, and inferiorly by a line between the iliac crests.
- Four-quadrant model:
- Vertical line is formed by the median plane.
- Horizontal line is formed by the umbilical plane.
- Umbilicus is at the intersection of the two lines.