Pancreas The pancreas is a pinkish glandular structure situated posterior to the stomach in the retroperitoneal space of the abdominal cavity. It arises as an outgrowth

Besides pancreatic juice, the other secretory product emptied into the duodenum is bile. The biliary system, which

also develops as an embryonic outgrowth of the duodenum, includes the liver, the gallbladder, and associated ducts. The rounded, wedge-shaped liver, the largest organ of the abdomen, occupies a major portion of the upper right peritoneal cavity. The gallbladder is a pear-shaped, saccular organ situated in a depression on the inferior surface of the right lobe of the liver where it is a storage organ of the bile that is produced in the liver. Connecting the gallbladder to the common hepatic bile duct is the cystic bile duct. The junction of these ducts forms the main bile duct that drains into the duodenum. The liver is the largest and most important metabolic organ in the body, which in addition to producing the important bile salts associated with digestion, performs a myriad of metabolic functions.

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Liver and gall bladder

Inferior view, posterior at top

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The large intestine is much shorter than the small intestine, averaging about 1.5 meters in length, but typically has a greater diameter, therefore the name. The large intestine consists of

the cecum, appendix, colon, and rectum. The cecum receives indigestible material from the small intestine and then moves it through the subdivisions of the colon — the ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, and sigmoid colon — before it enters the terminal portion of the gut tube, the rectum. The large intestine is primarily a drying and storage organ of indigestible plant fibers. Minimal absorption of fluids occurs in the large intestine as the fecal contents are stored prior to evacuation.

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