Irish scientists have identified a new organ in the digestive system challenging some basic concepts of human anatomy. Researcher from the University of Limerick said that mesentery, which connects the intestine to the abdomen and was considered as a “fragmented structure”, is actually one continuous structure that can be classified as an organ.
A review of this discovery by the university’s professor of surgery was published in Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology in November and has outlined the evidence for calling mesentery as an organ. “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,” said the professor J Calvin Coffey in a press statement. “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.”
In fact, the research prompted an update in one of the world’s best known medical textbook Gray’s Anatomy. Medical students will now study about the new organ, especially to understand its function.
Coffey said by approaching the mesentery like every other organ, medical experts can categorise abdominal disease in terms of this organ. He added that mesenteric science is its own specific field of medical study in the same way as gastroenterology, neurology and coloproctology.
The identification of this new organ will pave the way for research on its function which will ultimately help understand abnormal function and the disease process that Coffey labeled as mesenteric sciences. The university in its statement said that better understanding and further scientific study of the mesentery could lead to less invasive surgeries, fewer complications, faster patient recovery and lower overall costs.