ABDOMINAL CAVITY

The abdominal cavity is the body cavity of the human body (and other animal bodies) that holds the bulk of the viscera and which is located below (or inferior to) the thoracic cavity, and above the pelvic cavity. It is a part of the abdominopelvic cavity.Organs of the abdominal cavity include the stomach, liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, urinary bladder, small intestine and large intestine. (The kidneys are located not in the abdominal cavity but behind it, in the retroperitoneum.).The abdominal cavity is lined with a protective membrane termed the peritoneum. The viscera are also covered, in the front, with a fatty layer called the omentum (or omental apron).

It is the space bounded by the abdominal walls, the diaphragm, and the pelvis; it usually is arbitrarily separated from the pelvic cavity by a plane across the superior aperture of the pelvis; however, it may include the pelvis with the abdomen (see abdominopelvic cavity); within the cavitas lie the greater part of the organs of digestion, the spleen, the kidneys, and the suprarenal glands.