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Neck of urinary bladder: anatomy, location and function

The neck is the lowest part of the bladder, where it joins the urethra. Smooth muscle at the bladder neck helps keep urine in; in women it is less developed than the male internal sphincter, so continence relies more on the external urethral sphincter and pelvic floor support.

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Highlighted in the model: Neck of urinary bladder. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The female body shares the male skeleton, muscles and organs except its pelvis, reproductive organs, breasts, bladder, urethra and skin.

Neck of urinary bladder at a glance

What it is
The neck is the lowest part of the bladder, where it joins the urethra.
Location
It lies at the internal urethral orifice. In women it rests on the pelvic floor and the anterior vaginal wall, behind the lower pubic symphysis.
Function
Smooth muscle at the bladder neck helps keep urine in; in women it is less developed than the male internal sphincter, so continence relies more on the external urethral sphincter and pelvic floor support.
Body system
Urinary · single, midline structure · female body
FMA ID
FMA15912 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is the most fixed part of the bladder.
  • Loss of support of the bladder neck lets it move down when coughing.

Clinical relevance

Stress urinary incontinence after childbirth is linked to poor support of the bladder neck and urethra; pelvic floor muscle training is the first treatment.

Structures next to the neck of urinary bladder

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Neck of urinary bladder (FMA15912). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §25.2 Gross Anatomy of Urine Transport. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
  4. Browne K., Schlehlein H. 3D Reference Organ Set for United, Female (Visible Human Female). Human Reference Atlas 3D Reference Object Library, HuBMAP / NIH. Data from the NLM Visible Human Project. CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.