Glossary term:

Peritoneum

The name given to the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity. The word is sometimes also used as a synonym for the cavity itself although, applied in this sense, “the peritoneum” should be more correctly referred to as the “peritoneal cavity”. Ventriculoperitoneal shunts divert cerebrospinal fluid from the ventricles of the brain into the abdominal, or peritoneal cavity.