We will be going over major structures in the axial CT of the abdomen.

Now there are many

structures located in the abdomen. There is a number of viscera that have defined regions to
them as well as a number of branching arteries and veins since this video just an introduction
to what an axial CT of the abdomen looks like. I will not be defening every structure in the
abdomen but mostly major viscera to give you an idea of where you are in thebody when you
are looking at a single image from an axial CT. Please make sure to consult your lecture
materialas on those topics. We are not covering here today since they are high-yield written
exam materials. Here is just a list of the structures we will covering in this presentation and
generally the order we will see them. Now I won’t be pointing out parts of the small
intenstines since it spans most of the abdomen and doesn’t quite help as a landmark but I will
point of the location of the large intestine when applicable. I’ll also be using a variety of
cartoon images throughout the presentation to help orient ourselves as well as show the
orientation of some viscera and the abdomen with respect to each other.

List of structures :

Liver, stomach, spleen, kidneys, pancreas, inferior vena cava, renal vein, gallbladder, large
intestine.

Here is just reminder before we start on what type of view we were using in this image set
and I’ll just circle that plane right now we were using a transverse or horizontal plane also
known as axial. Now this first image should actually look vamiliar to you are we even in the
abdomen yet. The answer is no because this is the heart we can actually see that I’ll circle
quickly here in blue and you should be able to recognize this from your last unit of Anatomy
as well as the axial video I hope you watch previously to this one. I’ll scroll through a few
more slides until we’ve actually entered the abdomen. Now a new structure has come into
view rught here and I’ll circle that yellow very quickly. Think about what structure is located
in the superior region of the abdomen on the right side of the body. Keep that in mind as the
structure becomes larger in the next few slides and then we’ll orient ourselves with a cartoon
image. Another new structure has appearred and I’ll circle in green right now. So we have 2
structures we have identify that new one in green and teh one from a couple slides ago in
yellow. So let’s go ahead and move on to a cartoon image and orient ourselves. If you
haven’t figured it out by now, the structure we saw first on the right side of the body is the
liver. I’ll just label that L quickly and the new structure we found on the last slide is the
stomach. Now just label that S. Now the liver has expanded on this image we are starting to
see a little bit of the stomach. So let’s go ahead and orient ourselves in our cartoon image
right about here. Specifically we have cut trough the fundus of the stomach. So let’s scroll
trough some more slides to see the liver and stomach become even more defined. Another
structure close to the stomach has appeared that’s near the posterior side of it and I’ll circle
that quickly in blue. This is going to be the spleen. Here is the defferent image, the better
shows the location of the spleen posterior to the stomach. The spleen is the purple colored
structure are in the carton image now go ahead and outline that in black. Let’s scroll through
a few more slides now untill we reach another landmark. Here is our next landmark that has
started to appear showing that removing down the abdomen and I’ll circle that right now in
blue. It’s only on the left side of this image. So let’s orient ourselves to find out what it is. I’ll
use this image to point out generally where we are in the adbdomen first. But since the
structure we want to identify is located on the posterior abdominal wall, you can’t see in on
this picture. So i’ll show you a better picture next slide that will identify our sructure. Before
we do that are about here inthe abdomen and I’ll draw a black line right now . if you haven’t
figured it out yet, our landmark is left kidney coming into view the picture on the right shows
the orientation of the left kidney posterior to the stomach. In most cases the left kidney lies
more superior in the abdomen compared to the right kidney. Let me just trace out the left
kidney you and both of these images while we were here. There is on the cartoon image and
then again on the CT image in black. The right kidney is now starting to come more into view
and I’ll circle that right here in green. You can also see the left kidney is becoming more
defined and I’ll circle that and green as well. In addition we can see the tail in the body of
pancreas. Now outline in red right here. Now the boundaries of the pancreas are a little hard
to determine are an axial CT but as long as you keep in mind where it is located in the
abdomen with respect to other structures. You can find it on a CT. I’ll outline the pancreas or
in the cartoon image now and I’ll do that in red very quickly and then let me outline it once
more on our CT image. Notice how close in proximity the pancreas is the left kidney and the
spleen. And just keep in mind the spleen isn’t shown on our cartoon image on the right. This
is the same image we have looked at in the past two slides. There are two things I want to
keep an eye on now as we move through a couple of more images. The first of which being
this little dark grey structure close to the liver, now outline that quickly and blue for you.
Now I’m going to wait to tell you what this is for a few more slides until we orient ourselves
again. Second, I’m going to cricle this structure here in green. And I’ll tell you right now that
this is the inferior van cava. Now I want you to keep an eye on that structure as we scroll
through a couple more slides and I want you to see how it turns into a different structure.
Now I’m going to scroll through the next few images very slow so that you can keep track of
it. So what you’re going to do is keep an eye on the inferior vena cava which I circled in
green for a couple more slides. Now the grey structure we pointed out a few slides ago is
actually the gallbladder and I’ll circle that again for you rught here in blue. And the inferior
vena cava has given rise to the right renal vein which I’ll trace for you in green. Let’s go
ahead and orient ourselves again. You can see ajust a little bit of the gallbladder in this
cartoon image on the right. I’ll just circle that cuickly in purple. It’s this little green dot very
close to the liver right there. Now I’ll draw a line to orient ourselves remember we’re going
through the gallbaldder. Now we’ve moved inferior enough so taht the liver isn’t taking up
most of the right side of our CT image and also far enough that we’ve cut through both
kidneys. I also want to mention with this picture we have cut through a little bit of the large
intestine because you can see the air in it on our CT image and I’ll just circle that very briefly
in red. Now let me show you where we are with respect to the kidneys with a different
picture. So I said and I’m gonna outline this in black. We had the right renal vei. I’m going to
draw a line on our cartoon image right about here. As of this point I have mentioned
everything I want to associated with the major viscera of the abdomen so I’ll scroll through
the next few slides relatively fast until I reached the last image of the set where I just have
one or two more structures to point out fro you. You can see the left kidney has disappeared
and the right kidney disappeares. The very last thing I want to point out is the beginning of
the bifurcation of the abdominal aorta into teh left and right common iliac arteries which you
can see very faintly here and I’ll draw a circle aroundboth of them first, and you can see a
little line showing there is a bifurcation right there. Let’s orient ourselves one last time as we
exit the abdomen again we’re right at the bifurcation of the abdominal aorta into the common
iliac arteries right about there and that concludes this prsentation.