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Information about Cecum

Cecum
Superior ileocecal fossa. (Cecum labeled at bottom left.)
subject #249 1177
PrecursorMidgut
MeSH Cecum
Dorlands/Elsevier c_01/12204134
The cecum or caecum (from the Latin meaning blind) is a pouch connected to the ascending colon of the large intestine and the ileum. It is separated from the ileum by the ileocecal valve (ICV) or Bauhin's valve, and is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is also separated from the colon by the cecocolic junction.

Variation across species

The cecum is present in mammals, and two ceca are present in most birds, and some reptiles.

Most herbivores have a relatively large cecum, hosting a large number of bacteria, which aid in the enzymatic breakdown of plant materials such as cellulose.

Exclusive carnivores, whose diets contain little or no plant material, have a reduced cecum, often partially or wholly replaced by the vermiform appendix.

Etymology

The term cecum comes from the Latin, meaning blind gut or cul de sac.

In dissections by the Greek philosophers, the connection between the ileum of the small intestines and the cecum was not fully understood. Most of the studies of the digestive tract were done on animals and the results were compared to human structures.

The junction between the small intestines and the colon, called the ileocecal valve, is so small in some animals that it was not considered to be a connection between the small and large intestines. During a dissection, the colon could be traced from the rectum, to the sigmoid colon, through the descending, transverse, and ascending sections. The colon seemed to dead-end into the cecum, or cul-de-sac.

However, the connection between the end of the small intestines, ileum, and the start of the colon, cecum are now clearly understood, but the name has not changed.

See also

Additional images


Location of McBurney's point (#1)

The superior mesenteric artery and its branches.

Arteries of cecum and vermiform process.

Inferior ileocecal fossa.

Interior of the cecum and lower end of ascending colon, showing colic valve.

Topography of thoracic and abdominal viscera.

Endoscopic image of cecum with arrow pointing to ileocecal valve in foreground.


External links

 •  • [ e]
Anatomy of torso, digestive system: Gastrointestinal tract
Upper GI: to stomachMouth • Pharynx (nasopharynx, oropharynx, hypopharynx) • Esophagus • Crop
Upper GI: stomachrugae - gastric pits - cardia/gland - fundus/gland - pylorus/gland - pyloric antrum - greater curvature - lesser curvature
Lower GI: intestinesSmall intestine (duodenum, jejunum, ileum) • Vermiform appendix • Ileocecal valve - Large intestine: Cecum • Colon (ascending colon, hepatic flexure, transverse colon, splenic flexure, descending colon, sigmoid colon)
Lower GI: after intestinesRectum (Houston valve, rectal ampulla, pectinate line) • Anal canal (anal valves, anal sinuses, anal columns) - Anus: Sphincter ani internus muscle • Sphincter ani externus muscle
Lower GI: continuousGALT: Peyer's patches • M cells - intestinal villus • crypts of Lieberkhn • circular folds • taenia coli • haustra • epiploic appendix
Embryology is the study of the development of an embryo. An embryo is defined as any vertebrate in a stage before birth or hatching. Embryology refers to the development of the egg cell (zygote) after fertilization and the differentiation of cells into tissues and organs.
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The midgut is the portion of the embryo from which most of the intestines are derived. After it bends around the superior mesenteric artery, it is called the "midgut loop".
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Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is used by the MEDLINE/PubMed
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Elsevier, the world's largest publisher of medical and scientific literature, forms part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has substantial operations in the UK, USA and elsewhere.
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Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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Blind can refer to:
  • The state of blindness, being unable to see
  • Blind or double-blind, a procedure to reduce bias in scientific experiments
  • A window blind, a covering for a window

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The ascending colon is smaller in caliber than the cecum, with which it is continuous.

It passes upward, from its commencement at the cecum, opposite the colic valve, to the under surface of the right lobe of the liver, on the right of the gall-bladder, where it is lodged
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The large intestine, an organ which is now more commonly referred to by its Greek name, the colon, is the last part of the digestive system: the final stage of the alimentary canal in vertebrate animals.
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ileum is the final section of the small intestine. It is about 2-4 m long in humans, follows the duodenum and jejunum, and is separated from the cecum by the ileocecal valve (ICV). The pH in the ileum is usually between 7 and 8 (neutral or slightly alkaline).
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The ileocecal valve is a sphincter muscle situated at the junction of the small intestine (ileum) and the large intestine. It regulates the flow of chyme into the bowels.[1]
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Mammalia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses & Infraclasses
  • Subclass †Allotheria*
  • Subclass Prototheria
  • Subclass Theria

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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Sauropsida*
Goodrich, 1916

Subclasses
  • Anapsida
  • Diapsida
Synonyms
  • Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class
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Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism known as an herbivore, consumes principally autotrophs[1] such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria.
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Bacteria

Phyla

Actinobacteria
Aquificae
Chlamydiae
Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi
Chloroflexi
Chrysiogenetes
Cyanobacteria
Deferribacteres
Deinococcus-Thermus
Dictyoglomi
Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria
Firmicutes
Fusobacteria
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Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (i.e. accelerate) chemical reactions.[1] In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products.
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Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5)n. It is a structural polysaccharide derived from beta-glucose.[1][2] Cellulose is the primary structural component of green plants.
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carnivore (IPA: /ˈkɑrnɪvɔər/), meaning 'meat eater' (Latin carne meaning 'flesh' and vorare
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In human anatomy, the vermiform appendix (or appendix, pl. appendices) is a blind ended tube connected to the cecum, from which it develops embryologically. The term "vermiform" comes from Latin and means "wormlike in appearance".
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Cul de Sac are a rock music group formed in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts and led by guitarist Glenn Jones. Their music is primarily instrumental. Jones and keyboardist Robin Amos have been the only constant members.
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ileum is the final section of the small intestine. It is about 2-4 m long in humans, follows the duodenum and jejunum, and is separated from the cecum by the ileocecal valve (ICV). The pH in the ileum is usually between 7 and 8 (neutral or slightly alkaline).
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The ileocecal valve is a sphincter muscle situated at the junction of the small intestine (ileum) and the large intestine. It regulates the flow of chyme into the bowels.[1]
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McBurney's point is the name given to the point over the right side of the human abdomen that is one-third of the distance from the ASIS (anterior superior iliac spine) to the umbilicus.
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Intervention:
Colonoscopy

ICD-10 code:
ICD-9 code: 45.23

Other codes: Colonoscopy is the endoscopic examination of the large colon and the distal part of the small bowel with a CCD camera or a fiber optic camera
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The ileocecal valve is a sphincter muscle situated at the junction of the small intestine (ileum) and the large intestine. It regulates the flow of chyme into the bowels.[1]
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The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, better known as SUNY Downstate Medical Center, is an academic medical center and is the only one of its kind in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City.
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The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, better known as SUNY Downstate Medical Center, is an academic medical center and is the only one of its kind in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City.
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The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, better known as SUNY Downstate Medical Center, is an academic medical center and is the only one of its kind in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City.
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The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, better known as SUNY Downstate Medical Center, is an academic medical center and is the only one of its kind in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City.
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Medical University of Vienna , formerly the faculty of medicine of the University of Vienna, became an independent university on January 1, 2004. The independence of medical schools from the structure of "general" universities was part of a larger reform of the Austrian university
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