Pancreas, kidneys and ureters

Published on June 30, 2020   25 min

Other Talks in the Series: Introduction to Gross Anatomy for Medicine

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0:00
My name is Kapil Satyapal. I'm an emeritus professor and fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, which is located in Durban in South Africa. In this talk, we will discuss the pancreas, kidneys, and ureters. Kindly note that this is an introductory talk, and I would urge you to read your recommended texts as well as examine these organs inside you in the dissection hall, and any other aid you may have. I would also encourage you to read up on the embryology of these organs. There are also several applied, clinically relevant aspects. However, I will only mention a few to whet your appetite, so to speak.
0:48
This slide demonstrates the surface projection of the pancreas and kidneys. You may be aware that the regions of the abdomen are described in nine different regions. The manner in which we arrive at this are by using two horizontal lines. The upper one, which you will see in the diagram, will go through the transpyloric line, which is for the pylorus of the stomach and duodenum, and a lower line is the transtubercular line, which is on the iliac face five centimeters behind the anterior superior iliac spine. The vertical lines on either side are at the mid-clavicular lines, and thereby dividing the abdomen into nine regions. The nine regions are formed as follows. The upper three, which you can see will be the right and left hypochondrium, the epigastrium in the center, the middle three are the right and left lumbar region with the umbilical region in the middle, and the lower three are the right and left iliac regions with the suprapubic or hypogastrium as it may be called. In the middle slide, you will note a simpler version. Clinicians tend to want to divide the abdomen into four quadrants, and those lines are from the xiphisternum to the symphysis pubis and across a line of the umbilicus, giving you a right and left upper quadrant and a right and left lower quadrant. For this talk, we will stick to the traditional anatomical parametres and regions as described on the left diagram. Therefore, you will notice that the pancreas is snugly fitting into the C of the duodenum, tail going upwards and with the kidneys left and right on either side, and these straddle, if you like, the upper and lower zones that we described.

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