Anatomy of the lower urinary tract

Abstract

For descriptive purposes, the urinary tract is divided into upper and lower parts. The kidneys and ureters make up the upper urinary tract with the urinary bladder and urethra forming the lower urinary tract. In this article, a detailed description of the surgical and functional anatomy of the urinary bladder is followed by a description of the clinical anatomy of the female and male urethra. There then follows a brief description of the relevant anatomy of the prostate and seminal vesicles. While not strictly involved in the conduction of urine from the bladder to the exterior, the prostate and seminal vesicles are so intimately related (both topographically and functionally) to the urethra and bladder that no account of the lower urinary tract in the male would be complete without them. It is conventional, therefore, to regard the prostate and seminal vesicles as part of the lower urinary tract.