SCIENTISTS RECLASSIFY PART OF THE HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM AS A NEW ORGAN - This may help in a better understanding of digestive disease

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WHAT IS THE MESENTERY?   

The mesentery is a fold of the peritoneum which attaches the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, spleen, and other organs to the abdomen.  Until now, it has been overlooked in medicine as a fragmented structure. 

The mesentery was long-believed to be made up of separate structures

But a new study has shown that it is one continuous organ 

Researchers say the next step is understanding its function in the body

The finding could aid better understanding and treatment of abdominal and digestive disease 

Forget what you were told in biology class, as researchers have classified a brand-new organ inside the human body.

The mesentery was long-believed to be made up of separate structures, but a new study has shown that it is one continuous organ.  Researchers hope that the reclassification will aid better understanding and treatment of abdominal and digestive disease. 

Researchers from University Hospital Limerick in Ireland used complex microscopy to show that the mesentery was one continuous organ.

 

Professor J Calvin Coffey, who first discovered the organ, said: 'In the paper, which has been peer reviewed and assessed, we are now saying we have an organ in the body which hasn't been acknowledged as such to date.  The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect. This organ is far from fragmented and complex. It is simply one continuous structure.'

 

The finding has led to Gray's Anatomy – one of the most widely-used series of medical textbooks in the world – being updated to include the new organ.

 

Continue reading and see illustrations

The mesentery is a fold of the peritoneum which attaches the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, spleen, and other organs to the abdomen.

 

Before now, it had been overlooked in medicine as a fragmented structure, but the new definition could be significant for everyone.

 

Professor Coffey said: 'This is relevant universally as it affects all of us. Up to now there was no such field as mesenteric science.

 

'Now we have established anatomy and the structure. The next step is the function.

 

'If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease. Put them all together and you have the field of mesenteric science…the basis for a whole new area of science.'

 

Already, medical students around the world are, from this year, learning about the mesentery as a continuous organ. 

 

The researchers hope this will lead to a deeper understanding of abdominal disease.

 

 

The mesentery was long-believed to be made up of separate structures, but a new study has shown that it is one continuous organ
 

 

 The mesentery is a fold of the peritoneum which attaches the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, spleen, and other organs to the abdomen
 
Source
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4084440/Rewriting-Gray-s-Anatomy-Experts-discover-brand-new-ORGAN-human-digestive-system.html