[Anatomy of the oesophagogastric junction]

Abstract

The oesophagogastric junction is increasingly gaining importance due to the difficulty of allocating adenocarcinomas that develop in this region to the stomach or the oesophagus. The present article gives an overview of important anatomic structures in this area, which are responsible for the closure of the distal oesophagus and the entry of the stomach. Moreover, the structures of the mucosa in healthy and under pathological conditions (e.g., oesophagogastric reflux disease and infection with Helicobacter pylori) are discussed in this article.