There were previously conflicting statements in the academic anatomy community[10][11][12] over whether the cardia is part of the stomach, part of the esophagus or a distinct entity. Modern surgical and medical textbooks have agreed that 'The gastric cardia is now clearly considered to be part of the stomach'[13][14]. Classical anatomy textbooks, and some other resources[15], describe the cardia as the first of 4 regions of the stomach. This makes sense histologically because the mucosa of the cardia is the same as that of the stomach[WP]

We follow Kardong in defining stomach regions by glands.