The mesentery is a "new" organ in the human body that has recently been discovered by scientists. It turns out that the current anatomical description of humans was incorrect and did not include the mesentery as a separate organ. Thus, in the human body there are no longer 78, but 79 organs. This discovery could be a breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the digestive system. Check what a mesentery is and what its functions are.
Krezkahas been known for hundreds of years. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first to describe it. Its detailed "classical" anatomical description was made in 1885 by the British surgeon Sir Frederick Treves. For years, the mesentery was of little interest to scientists, who considered it to be an insignificant part of the body. Only now did they come to the conclusion that the mesentery should be classified as a separate organ.
Krezka - what is it?
The mesentery is a double membrane that stabilizes the position of internal organs - the digestive tract, blood vessels, ovaries and fallopian tubes - as well as elements of the nervous and excretory systems. For years, doctors who studied the mesentery have believed that it is not a continuous structure, but is composed of many elements, and therefore is not important.
Mesenteric - new old organ in the body
It turns out, however, that the mesentery does not consist of separate parts, but is an independent, "full-fledged" organ with a uniform, continuous structure. Such conclusions were reached after years of research by scientists from the Irish University Hospital Limerick, led by Prof. J. Calvin Coffey. They shared their discovery in 2016 in the articleThe mesentery: structure, function, and role in disease , which was published in the specialist medical journal "The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology".
What changes their discovery? Certain diseases affecting the abdominal cavity will have to be reclassified and, consequently, the approach to their treatment will have to be reclassified. Perhaps specialists will develop new, less invasive surgical techniques.
- We have learned about the structure of the mesentery, but now its functions still need to be thoroughly investigated - explains prof. Coffey. - When you understand how it works, then you can identify this malfunction, meaning disease […] - When we treat it [mesentery] as an organ, we will be able to classify abdominal diseases by this organ - adds the expert. This will create a new, mesenteric-focused field of medicine of equal importanceas it has today, for example, gastrology or neurology.
The mesentery as a single, independent organ of the human body is already described in the latest edition of the famous anatomy textbook "Gray's Anatomy".
Source: www.youtube.com/UniversityofLimerick