In case you missed it, by at least one recently revised tally you now have 79 organs — up from 78.
A layered fold of tissue that connects your intestines to the abdominal wall, the mesentery was recently elevated to the status of an organ by a group of scientists, based on its structure and function. In a paper reviewing past research and taking a fresh look at the mesentery, published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology in November, it was described as a single contiguous structure and elevated in the anatomical ranks. Besides holding our intestines in place, the mesentery serves important functions like facilitating blood flow between the intestines and the rest of our body. Leonardo da Vinci characterized it as an organ hundreds of years ago, though in modern medicine it has been described as a fragmented set of connective tissues.
Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, a professor of surgery at the University of Limerick in Ireland who led the research published in November, has stated that he hopes the revised categorization prompts more study of the mesentery. Experts say many questions remain about its function and role in disease. “There’s probably going to be more research. There’s going to be more focus in this area,” says Dr. Rene Gomez Esquivel, a gastroenterologist with USF Health and Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida, who was not involved with the paper that reclassified the mesentery as an organ.
[See: 8 Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Colon Cancer.]
Other GI experts point out that while patients are largely unaware even of the existence of the mesentery in their body — or at least don’t know it by name — it’s long been on clinicians’ radar. So whether it will receive significantly more attention from researchers and the medical community remains to be seen. When, for example, a surgeon must remove a part of a patient’s intestine, such as for surgery to treat colon cancer, part of the mesentery goes under the knife as well. “Any time we take a piece of intestine out, we have to cut through mesentery in order to remove the intestine,” says Dr. David Shapiro, vice chair of surgery at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
Shapiro and Dr. Douglas G. Adler, a gastroenterologist and professor of medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, both liken the reclassification of the mesentery to that of a planetary body: Pluto. Recall that Pluto was demoted more than a decade ago by the International Astronomical Union to the status of dwarf planet — dropping our solar system planet count by one — while the mesentery received the nod for an anatomical promotion. Whatever it’s called — organ or not — experts say the recent publicity regarding its categorization highlights the importance of the mesentery.
It has many blood vessels that nourish your bowels, and it also contains lymph nodes that help fight illness. Mesenteric diseases or conditions are rare but sometimes can be life-threatening. These include mesenteric ischemia, which can be caused by a clot or hardening of the arteries, or volvulus — when the intestine twists around itself and the mesentery. In addition, because of its connectedness with different body systems, the mesentery is sometimes implicated in disease spread. And Gomez Esquivel says more study is needed to fully understand its role in supporting or altering homeostasis, or a balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, as well as how inflammation in the mesentery may contribute to Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel condition.
[See: 10 Weird Things That Can Make You Poop.]
Amid all the remaining question marks — and given the intricate interconnectedness of the mesentery to bodily systems — there’s no simple way to prevent problems that directly or indirectly involve our new organ. However, being heart healthy could help in this area as well, Gomez Esquivel says, whether that involves quitting smoking or exercising regularly. “The same way you can have strokes by migration of blood clots or plaque, you can have those processes happen in the mesentery,” he says. He adds that these can result in partial or severe ischemia in the mesentery. Fortunately, that’s relatively rare, especially as compared to strokes and heart attacks. “The blood flow to your intestines is pretty redundant — multiple blood vessels go to different areas all through the mesentery,” Shapiro says. That means there are more options to keep blood flowing properly. Given that, “the likelihood of this happening is pretty unusual in someone who’s young, though someone who is older with more vascular disease may have that happen more often.”
Besides being heart healthy, there are steps a person can take to help protect overall intestinal health. That includes getting screened for colon cancer, Shapiro says. Screening is typically recommended starting at age 50, though it’s important to speak with your doctor to determine if factors like a family history of colorectal polyps or cancer warrants starting screening sooner.
In addition, pay attention to changes in so-called bowel habits, such as how frequently you go or other issues you may not want to talk about; don’t wait to disclose concerns to your doctor. A person could have a change in their bowel habits; their stools could narrow or they may have blood in their stool, Adler says. That could be a sign of colon cancer, which — left unchecked and untreated — could spread and be fatal. “Don’t ignore changes in your digestive health, just because it may be embarrassing to talk about,” he says. “If you don’t want to go to the doctor and talk about your bowel movements , that could literally cost you your life.”
[See: How to Survive Acid Reflux — Without a Pill.]
To further bolster intestinal health, follow standard recommendations to improve overall well-being: “eating well, avoiding concentrated sugars, avoiding a fatty diet, making sure you eat plenty of fiber,” Shapiro says. That’s in addition to not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight. After all, if you need more motivation to live well, you’ve got 78 — or 79 — organs to consider.
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Get to Know Your New Organ: the Mesentery originally appeared on usnews.com
