The Stomach

The Stomach

ME101

Class time

K. Lee, RN

May 5, 2011

The human body is filled with thousands of organs, clearly too many to count. The stomach is a very important one that is a part of our system. The focus of this paper is all about the organ the stomach. This paper will define the stomach, tell its location and function, and give two disease processes, their symptoms and treatments.

The Stomach

According to the website med.myseda.com the stomach is a muscular bag, which is specialized for the accumulation of ingested food. It connects the esophagus to the small intestine. It stores the food for short time before it empties the food to the intestine. The capacity of the stomach changes with age. At birth stomach capacity is around 30ml, 1000ml at puberty and 1500ml to 3000ml in adults. The shape of the stomach varies with food content and the surrounding organs, the empty stomach is "J" shaped.

The Location

The stomach is situated in the upper part of the abdomen mostly under cover of the lower ribs from the left costal margin into the epigastric and umbilical regions. It is completely surrounded by visceral peritoneum (intraperitoneal).The stomach has two orifices, two curvatures and two surfaces.

The Functions

The stomach secretes acid and enzymes that digest food. Ridges of muscle tissue called rugae line the stomach. The stomach muscles contract periodically, churning food to enhance digestion. The pyloric sphincter is a muscular valve that opens to allow food to pass from the stomach to the small intestine.

• Storage of food (2-3 L capacity in adult).

• It mixes the food bolus with gastric secretions to form semifluid chyme, which pass to the duodenum quickly.

• Stomach controls the rate of chyme delivery to the small intestine for efficient digestion and absorption

Two Disease Processes, the symptoms and treatment

Ulcers, Peptic

Ulcers, Peptic also called gastric, duodenal how they form is unclear. The...