The peritoneal cavity is a potential space between the parietal abdominal cavity from the abdominal wall. It is one of the spaces derived from the coelomic cavity of the embryo, the others being the pleural cavities around the lungs and the pericardial cavity around the heart.
The peritoneal cavity is the largest serosal sac in the body and secretes approximately 50 ml of fluid per day. This fluid acts as a lubricant and has anti-inflammatory properties.
Clinical significance
The peritoneal cavity is a common injection site, used in intraperitoneal injection.
An increase in the capillary pressure in the abdominal viscera can cause fluid to leave the interstital space and enter the peritoneal cavity, a condition called ascites.
In cases where cerebrospinal fluid builds up, such as in hydrocephalus, the fluid is commonly diverted to the peritoneal cavity by use of a shunt placed by surgery.[3]
Body fluid sampling from the peritoneal cavity is called peritoneocentesis.
References
-
^ "peritoneal cavity" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
-
^ Tank, P. (2013) Grants Dissector 15th ed., ch.4 The abdomen, p.99
-
^ Adzick, Scott; Thom, Spong; Brock, Burrows; et al. (17 March 2011). "A Randomized Trial of Prenatal versus Postnatal Repair of Myelomeningocele". The New England Journal of Medicine 364 (11): 993–1004.
External links
-
peritoneum at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University)
|
|
General
|
|
|
Abdominal
|
|
|
Pelvic
|
|
|
Spaces
|
|
|
|
|
Description
|
|
|
Disease
|
|
|
Treatment
|
|
|
|
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.