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
★
McBurney's point
Additional images
External links
★
Photo at mgccc.cc.ms.us
★ - "Abdominal organs in situ."
★ - "The larger intestine."
★ - "The cecum with the distal portion of the ileum."
★ - "Incisions of the Cecum"
★
★
Video clip of worms in the Cecum
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