Table 23.3.

Anatomic structures located in each abdominal region

Regions	Anatomic structures
0 central	Midline abdominal structures: greater omentum, transverse colon
1 right upper	Superior surface of the right lobe of the liver, undersurface of the right hemidiaphragm, right retro hepatic space
2 epigastrium	Epigastric fat pad, left lobe of liver, lesser omentum, falciform ligament
3 left upper	Undersurface of the left hemidiaphragm, spleen, tail of pancreas, anterior and posterior surfaces of the stomach
4 left flank	Descending colon, left abdominal gutter
5 left lower	Pelvic sidewall lateral to the sigmoid colon, sigmoid colon
6 pelvis	Female internal genitalia with ovaries, tubes and uterus, bladder, pouch of Douglas, rectosigmoid colon
7 right lower	Right pelvic side wall, cecum, appendix
8 right flank	Right abdominal gutter, ascending colon
9 upper jejunum 10 lower jejunum 11 upper ileum 12 lower ileum

Adapted from Harmon and Sugarbaker [11]. Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)