THE PERITONEUM 



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use to form a small triangular fold connecting the right lobe of the liver to the 

 diaphragm, and named the right triangular ligament of the liver. The apex of 

 the triangular bare area corresponds with the point of meeting of the two layers 

 of the coronary ligament, its base with the fossa for the inferior vena cava. (6) 

 It covers the lower surface of the quadrate lobe, the under and lateral surfaces 

 of the gall-bladder, and the under surface and posterior border of the left lobe; it is 

 then reflected from the upper surface of the left lobe to the diaphragm as the 

 inferior layer of the left triangular ligament, and from the porta of the liver and the 

 fossa for the ductus venosus to the lesser curvature of the stomach and the first 

 2.5 cm. of the duodenum as the anterior layer of the hepatogastric and hepatoduodenal 

 ligaments, which together constitute the lesser omentum. If this layer of the lesser 

 omentum be followed to the right it will be found to turn around the hepatic artery, 

 bile duct, and portal vein, and become continuous with the anterior wall of the 



Superior layer oj 

 coronary ligament 



Bare area of liver 



Inferior layer of 

 coronary ligament 



Bristle in epiploic 

 foramen 



Stomach 



Transverse colon 



Greater omentum 



Small intestine 



Ulerovesical 

 excavation 



Bladder 

 Vagina 



Pancreas 

 Duodenum 

 Aorta 

 Mesentery 



j~r 7 Uterus 

 I I Itectovaginal 

 ' / excavation 

 Rectum 



v 



i 



FIG. 1035. Vertical disposition of the peritoneum. Main cavity, red; omental bursa, blue. 



ental bursa, forming a free folded edge of peritoneum. Traced downward, it 

 covers the antero-superior surface of the stomach and the commencement of the 

 uodenum, and is carried down into a large free fold, known as the gastrocolic 

 ligament or greater omentum. Reaching the free margin of this fold, it is reflected 

 upward to cover the under and posterior surfaces of the transverse colon, and thence 

 to the posterior abdominal wall as the inferior layer of the transverse mesocolon. 

 It reaches the abdominal wall at the head and anterior border of the pancreas, 

 is then carried down over the lower part of the head and over the inferior surface 

 of the pancreas on the superior mesenteric vessels, and thence to the small intestine 

 as the anterior layer of the mesentery. It encircles the intestine, and subsequently 

 may be traced, as the posterior layer of the mesentery, upward and backward 

 to the abdominal wall. From this it sweeps down over the aorta into the pelvis, 

 where it invests the sigmoid colon, its reduplication forming the sigmoid mesocolon. 





