Man has another organ

Scientists have classified a new human organ, which belongs to the digestive tract. In spite of the fact that the structure of the mesentery is well known, scientist still don’t know much about its function.

The new organ was long considered to be made of separate parts, but new research has shown that it is a single and unique organ. The mesentery is in fact a double fold connecting the intestines with the wall of the abdomen.

All the evidence and findings have been published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

– In the paper, which has been peer reviewed and assessed, we are now saying we have a organ in the body which hasn’t been acknowledged as such to date – says J Calvin Coffey, researcher at the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland, who first discovered that the mesentery was an organ.

– 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 – Coffey explains.

Thanks to the new research, medical students will be taught that the mesentery is a separate organ. The best known anatomy textbook, Gray’s Anatomy, has already been updated to include the new definition.

human organs

new human organ

J Calvin Coffey

University Hospital Limerick

anatomy