Stomach
Gaster
DigestiveOrgansAbdomen
- What it is
- J-shaped muscular sac in the left upper abdomen: the cardia where the esophagus enters, the dome-shaped fundus under the left diaphragm, the body, and the antrum narrowing to the pylorus. The short concave right border is the lesser curvature, the long convex left border the greater curvature.
- Function
- Stores a meal and churns it with acid and pepsin into semi-liquid chyme, which it releases a little at a time into the duodenum.
- Size
- About 25 cm long along the greater curvature; holds 1-1.5 L after a meal (up to about 4 L when stretched), about 50 mL when empty.
- Clinical note
- Parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid (pH 1.5-3.5) and intrinsic factor, without which vitamin B12 cannot be absorbed (pernicious anaemia).