Cecum - wikipedia Cecum `` Caecum '' redirects here. For the genus of sea snails, see Caecum ( genus ). For other taxonomic uses, see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. Not to be confused with sacrum. Cecum or caecum Drawing of colon seen from front ( cecum colored red ) Superior ileocecal fossa ( cecum labeled at bottom left ) Details Precursor Midgut System Gastrointestinal Identifiers Latin Caecum MeSH D002432 TA A05. 7.02. 001 FMA 14541 Anatomical terminology ( edit on Wikidata ) Ileocecal junction ( Cecum appear in orange color ) The cecum or caecum ( / ˈsiːkəm /, plural ceca / ˈsiːkə / ; from the Latin caecus meaning blind ) is an intraperitoneal pouch that is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is typically located on the right side of the body ( the same side of the body as the appendix, to which it is joined ). It receives chyme from the ileum, and connects to the ascending colon of the large intestine. It is separated from the ileum by the ileocecal valve ( ICV ) or Bauhin 's valve. It is also separated from the colon by the cecocolic junction. While the cecum is usually intraperitoneal, the ascending colon is retroperitoneal. In herbivores, the cecum stores food material where bacteria are able to break down the cellulose. This function no longer occurs in the human cecum ( see appendix ), so in humans it is simply a dead - end pouch forming a part of the large intestine. Contents 1 Structure 1.1 Development 2 History 2.1 Etymology 3 Clinical significance 4 In animals 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Structure Inner diameters of different sections of the large intestine, with cecum ( at bottom left ) measuring on average 8.7 cm ( range 8.0 - 10.5 cm ). Development The cecum and appendix are formed by the enlargement of the postarterial segment of the midgut loop. The proximal part of the bud grows rapidly to form the cecum. The lateral wall of the cecum grows much more rapidly than the medial wall, with the result that the point of attachment of the appendix comes to lie on the medial side. History Etymology The term cecum comes from the Latin caecum, literally `` blind '', here in the sense `` 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 intestine 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 cecum is an end point for the colon with a dead - end portion terminating with the appendix. The connection between the end of the small intestine ( ileum ) and the start ( as viewed from the perspective of food being processed ) of the colon ( cecum ) is now clearly understood, and is called the ileocolic orifice. The connection between the end of the cecum and the beginning of the ascending colon is called the cecocolic orifice. Clinical significance A cecal carcinoid tumor is a carcinoid tumor of the cecum. An appendiceal carcinoid tumor ( a carcinoid tumor of the appendix ) is sometimes found next to a cecal carcinoid. In animals Gastric cecum of dissected cockroach. Scale bar, 2 mm. A cecum is present in most amniote species, and also in lungfish, but not in any living species of amphibian. In reptiles, it is usually a single median structure, arising from the dorsal side of the large intestine. Birds typically have two paired ceca, as, unlike other mammals, do hyraxes. Parrots do not have ceca. Most mammalian herbivores have a relatively large cecum, hosting a large number of bacteria, which aid in the enzymatic breakdown of plant materials such as cellulose ; in many species, it is considerably wider than the colon. In contrast, obligatory carnivores, whose diets contain little or no plant material, have a reduced cecum, which is often partially or wholly replaced by the appendix. Mammalian species which do not develop a cecum include raccoons, bears, and the red panda. Over 99 % of the bacteria in the gut flora are anaerobes, but in the cecum, aerobic bacteria reach high densities. Many fish have a number of small outpocketings, called pyloric ceca, along their intestine ; despite the name they are not homologous with the cecum of amniotes, and their purpose is to increase the overall area of the digestive epithelium. Some invertebrates, such as squid, may also have structures with the same name, but these have no relationship with those of vertebrates. Gallery Illustration of the large intestine Diagram of human gastrointestinal tract Cecum and ileum Ileo - cecal valve Cecum Ileocecal orifice 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 See also McBurney 's point References Jump up ^ `` The Large Intestine ''. VideoHelp.com. Jump up ^ Nguyen H, Loustaunau C, Facista A, Ramsey L, Hassounah N, Taylor H, Krouse R, Payne CM, Tsikitis VL, Goldschmid S, Banerjee B, Perini RF, Bernstein C ( 2010 ). `` Deficient Pms2, ERCC1, Ku86, CcOI in field defects during progression to colon cancer ''. J Vis Exp ( 41 ). doi : 10.3791 / 1931. PMC 3149991. PMID 20689513. Jump up ^ Taylor, Tim. `` Anatomy and Physiology Instructor ''. InnerBody.com. Howtomedia, Inc. Retrieved 28 November 2014. ^ Jump up to : Romer, Alfred Sherwood ; Parsons, Thomas S. ( 1977 ). The Vertebrate Body. Philadelphia, PA : Holt - Saunders International. pp. 353 -- 54. ISBN 0 - 03 - 910284 - X. Jump up ^ Clench, Mary H. ; Mathias, John R. ( 1995 ). The Avian Cecum : A Review. Ann Arbor, MI : Wilson Bulletin. pp. 93 -- 121, vol. 107 ( 1 ) March. ^ Jump up to : Guarner F, Malagelada JR ( February 2003 ). `` Gut flora in health and disease ''. Lancet. 361 ( 9356 ) : 512 -- 19. doi : 10.1016 / S0140 - 6736 ( 03 ) 12489 - 0. PMID 12583961. Jump up ^ Sears CL ( October 2005 ). `` A dynamic partnership : celebrating our gut flora ''. Anaerobe. 11 ( 5 ) : 247 -- 51. doi : 10.1016 / j. anaerobe. 2005.05. 001. PMID 16701579. Jump up ^ University of Glasgow. 2005. The normal gut flora. Available through web archive. Accessed May 22, 2008 Jump up ^ Beaugerie L, Petit JC ( April 2004 ). `` Microbial - gut interactions in health and disease. Antibiotic - associated diarrhoea ''. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 18 ( 2 ) : 337 -- 52. doi : 10.1016 / j. bpg. 2003.10. 002. PMID 15123074. Jump up ^ Vedantam G, Hecht DW ( October 2003 ). `` Antibiotics and anaerobes of gut origin ''. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 6 ( 5 ) : 457 -- 61. doi : 10.1016 / j. mib. 2003.09. 006. PMID 14572537. Jump up ^ Williams, L.W. ( 1910 ). The anatomy of the common squid : Loligo pealii, Lesueur. American Museum Of Natural History. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cecum. Photo at mgccc.cc.ms.us Anatomy figure : 37 : 03 - 08 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center -- `` Abdominal organs in situ. '' Anatomy figure : 37 : 06 - 09 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center -- `` The larger intestine. '' Anatomy figure : 39 : 05 - 09 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center -- `` The cecum with the distal portion of the ileum. '' Anatomy photo : 39 : 14 - 0101 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center -- `` Incisions of the Cecum '' Cross section image : pelvis / pelvis - e12 - 2 -- Plastination Laboratory at the Medical University of Vienna Video clip of worms in the Cecum hide Anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract, excluding the mouth Upper Pharynx Muscles Spaces peripharyngeal retropharyngeal parapharyngeal retrovisceral danger prevertebral Pterygomandibular raphe Pharyngeal raphe Buccopharyngeal fascia Pharyngobasilar fascia Piriform sinus Esophagus Sphincters upper lower glands Stomach Curvatures greater lesser Angular incisure Cardia Body Fundus Pylorus antrum canal sphincter Gastric mucosa Gastric folds Microanatomy Gastric pits Gastric glands Cardiac glands Fundic glands Pyloric glands Foveolar cell Parietal cell Gastric chief cell Enterochromaffin - like cell Lower Small intestine Microanatomy Intestinal villus Intestinal gland Enterocyte Enteroendocrine cell Goblet cell Paneth cell Duodenum Suspensory muscle Major duodenal papilla Minor duodenal papilla Duodenojejunal flexure Brunner 's glands Jejunum No substructures Ileum Ileocecal valve Peyer 's patches Microfold cell Large intestine Cecum Appendix Colon Ascending colon Hepatic flexure Transverse colon Splenic flexure Descending colon Sigmoid colon Continuous taenia coli haustra epiploic appendix Rectum Transverse folds Ampulla Anal canal Anus Anal columns Anal valves Anal sinuses Pectinate line Internal anal sphincter Intersphincteric groove External anal sphincter Wall Serosa / Adventitia Subserosa Muscular layer Submucosa Circular folds Mucosa Muscularis mucosa Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cecum&oldid=842322862 '' Categories : Digestive system Latin words and phrases Hidden categories : Pages with unresolved properties All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2011 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca বাংলা Български Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch ދިވެހިބަސް Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Ido Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa Kurdî Latina Latviešu Lietuvių Limburgs Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina کوردی Suomi Svenska Tagalog Татарча / tatarça Тоҷикӣ Türkçe Українська Walon 粵語 中文 42 more Edit links This page was last edited on 21 May 2018, at 18 : 17. 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Question: where does the small intestine join the large intestine
Answer: the ileocecal valve