Epiploic foramen

Omental foramen
Horizontal disposition of the peritoneum in the upper part of the abdomen.
Entry to omental bursa (black arrow) by omental foramen (white mark)
Details
Identifiers
Latin	foramen omentale
TA	A10.1.02.403
FMA	14711
Anatomical terminology []

In human anatomy, the omental foramen (epiploic foramen, foramen of Winslow after the anatomist Jacob B. Winslow, or uncommonly aditus; Latin: Foramen epiploicum), is the passage of communication, or foramen, between the greater sac (general cavity (of the abdomen)), and the lesser sac.

It has the following borders:

As the portal vein is the most posterior structure in the hepatoduodenal ligament, and the inferior vena cava lies under the posterior wall, the epiploic foramen can be remembered as lying between the two great veins of the abdomen.

Diagram to show the lines along which the peritoneum leaves the wall of the abdomen to invest the viscera.

Epiploic foramen

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)