Cecum, structure, functions

The caecum , cecum, is a saccular formation located below the ileocecalgic valve. Its length varies from 3 to 8 cm in different people, the width is 4-7 cm - the largest width of all other parts of the large intestine (excluding the ampulla of the rectum).

The cecum is usually covered by the peritoneum on all sides, but it may not have a serous cover on the posterior surface, i.e. Be covered with a peritoneum on three sides. In rare cases, it has a mesentery.

From the posterior medial wall, 0.5 to 5 cm below the ileocecal angle formed by the confluence of the ileum into the blind, a vermiform appendix (appendix), appendix vermiformis, departs. It is a narrow tube with a diameter of 3-4 mm, a length of 2.5 to 15 cm. The luminescence of the appendix is ​​communicated with the lumen of the cecum through the opening of the appendix, ostium appendicis vermiformis. The appendix has a mesentery appendix, mesoappendix, connecting it with the wall of the cecum and the terminal iliac.

Usually the appendix is ​​located in the right ileal fossa; The free end of it faces down and In the medial direction, reaches the boundary line (linea terminalis) and sometimes descends into the small pelvis. However, this position is not constant for all people: the appendix may be located, for example, behind the caecum, being covered and fixed to it by the peritoneum (retrocetically), or in the absence of a serous membrane on the posterior wall of the cecum to lie even extraperitoneally.

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