Dissect Anatomy

Muscle of Treitz (Suspensory Muscle of the Duodenum

So today I thought it would be cool to compare slides from different anatomy books to gain a better understanding from a 3D relational anatomy viewpoint. The focus for today is the muscle (ligament) of Treitz. Some texts will have it labeled as a muscle and others will depict it as a ligament. In this first slide, we see it depicted as a muscle, which is actual the way I saw it in a recent dissection I attended.

This first slide helps to show the reaction between the muscle of Treitz with the duodenojejunal angle and definitely shows the muscle continuing to the posterior abdominal wall. However, it isn’t until we get to the second slide, from Netter’s Anatomy, where we see that this muscle (ligament, whichever you would like to call it) is in continuity with the right crus of the diaphragm forming the esophageal foramen. You can then see how this muscle of Treitz acts as a suspensory muscle for the duodenum.

Now we come back to why is this important? Well, think about the about diaphragmatic breathing. The better quality of breathing we have, the more the diaphragm will move and serve as a pump for the viscera in the abdominal cavity. And with the direct connection to the duodenum, proper movement of the diaphragm will aid in digestion for even more reasons than we understood before.

The moral of the story is to keep calm, breathe and your muscle of Treitz will be happy :)