Anatomy of the stomach.

The stomach is the most dilated portion of the muscular tube that forms the digestive tract. It is located between the oesophagus proximally, and the duodenum distally. Developmentally, the stomach is a derivative of the embryonic foregut, and this derivation is reflected in its arterial supply from the coeliac trunk – the artery to the foregut. Physiologically, the stomach acts simultaneously as a temporary food store, an organ of digestion, and a mechanism to control the rate of flow of digested food into the small intestine where absorption occurs. This article describes in detail the surgically relevant topographical anatomy of the stomach, including its blood supply and lymphatic drainage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]