Abdominal wall

Overview

The abdominal wall represents the boundaries of the abdominal cavity. The abdominal wall is split into the posterior (back), lateral (sides) and anterior (front) walls.

There is a common set of layers covering and forming all the walls: the deepest being the extraperitoneal fat, the parietal peritoneum, and a layer of fascia which has different names over where it covers (eg transversalis, psoas fascia).

Superficial to these, but not present in the posterior wall are the three layers of muscle, the transversus abdominis (tranvserse abdominal muscle), the internal (obliquus internus) and the external oblique (obliquus externus).

Layers of anterior abdominal wall

In human anatomy, the layers of the abdominal wall are (from superficial to deep):

• Skin
• Fascia
  • Camper's fascia - fatty superficial layer
  • Scarpa's fascia - deep fibrous layer
• Muscle
  • External oblique muscle
  • Internal oblique muscle
  • Transverse abdominal muscle
• Deep fascia or subserous fascia

Inner surface

The surface contains several ligaments separated by fossae:

Ligament/fold	Remnant of	Lateral fossa	Hernia
median umbilical ligament	urachus	supravesical fossa	-
medial umbilical ligament	umbilical artery	medial inguinal fossa	direct inguinal hernia
lateral umbilical fold	inferior epigastric vessels	lateral inguinal fossa	indirect inguinal hernia

See also

• Peritoneum
• Human abdomen
• Terms for anatomical location
• Abdominal exercises

External links

• Template:MUNAnatomy
• Template:NormanAnatomy - "Skeleton of the Abdomen", Wesley Norman, PhD, DSc
• Abdominal+Wall at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
• Anterolateral Abdominal Wall - University of Edinburgh Faculty of Medicine
• Muscles of the Anterior Abdominal Wall - University of Arkansas