Cecum

The cecum (Latin caecum, cecum or cecum, which derived the medical term cecum or caecum Germanized; f1griechisch typhlon ) is the blind-ended initial part of the colon, the sack- shaped projecting into the abdominal cavity at the end of the small intestine down.

In the colloquial language is often mistakenly used the vermiform appendix of the cecum, the vermiform appendix (or appendix briefly ), called appendicitis. Even the term " appendicitis " for appendicitis is therefore incorrect. ( Correct spelling would be " inflammation of the appendix .")

While the humans in the right middle abdomen lying and six to eight inches long appendix is rather small, is found in many herbivores a baggy extended appendix. This is the case that are not able to recycle their strong cellulosic food through regurgitation especially those herbivorous mammals. So a warm-blooded domestic horse has a cecum of one meter in length and about 30 liters.

In most mammals, the cecum is located right in the abdominal cavity; However, one exception is the Altweltschweine, where he is on the left.

In birds, the cecum is in pairs. In chicken and duck species the caeca are relatively long and also take digestive functions, while many pigeons, parrots and songbirds, such as the appendix in humans, they are rudimentary.

Function

The general assumption that the appendix serves no function has been refuted by studies. The cecum is equipped with most species with abundant lymphoid tissue, especially in those with low -developed digestive function. Therefore, the appendix also will play an important role in mediating immunity to operations to ingested through the digestive tract antigens.

Herbivores ( herbivores ) that are not ruminants, have a pronounced appendix to implement non-cleavable organic nutrient compounds in food with the help of nutrient -splitting microorganisms to absorbable nutrients. Examples in the animal kingdom are for horses, rhinos, tree shrews and rodents such as guinea pigs.

Anatomy

The lower end of the appendix may be marked with a line is drawn from the navel to the right front end of the iliac crest, and the center of which is known as McBurney point. Here - at the point where three existing longitudinal smooth muscle strips ( taenia ) meet the cecum - is the departure point of the appendix (Latin: the vermiform appendix ).

In the cecum, the lower end of the ileum ( ileum ) inside out before or ileocecal valve ileocecal valve. This flap prevents valve-like strain in the cecum that bacteria in the small intestine aseptic reach, the lower portion is the ileum.

Clinic and diseases

The cecum can be examined as the rest of the colon with imaging techniques ( ultrasound, X-ray contrast imaging, computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy), directly assessed by colonoscopy or by palpation palpation.

In the appendix as such limited diseases in humans, there are not, with the exception of appendicitis ( appendicitis). The latter can be extended to the actual appendicitis and thus lead to appendicitis ( typhlitis ). In addition, diseases of the colon or small intestine can also affect the cecum, such as inflammation in Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis - here usually in the sense of pancolitis or Ileozäkal tuberculosis.

In herbivores with extensive appendix some specific abdominal conditions occur as tympanites, intussusception or twisting ( torsion caeci ). Some parasites are specialized in the appendix and can cause local inflammations here ( nodular typhlitis by Heterakis ssp. Cecal and in birds ), which are mainly restricted to the cecum. In the blackhead disease ( Histomoniasis of fowl ), especially the cecum and liver ( typhlohepatitis ) are affected. Also, certain bacteria such as Clostridium difficile can cause severe appendicitis mainly of herbivores.

132557
de