Editing Mesentery (section)

== History ==
Mesentery has been known for thousands of years, however it was unclear whether mesentery is a single organ or there are several mesenteries.<ref>Carl Engelking,  [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2017/01/06/got-mesentery-news-wrong/#.WJj9hfkrLRZ "We Got The Mesentery News All Wrong"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120021750/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2017/01/06/got-mesentery-news-wrong/#.WJj9hfkrLRZ |date=2019-11-20 }}, ''[[Discover Magazine]]'', January 7, 2017</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2018}} The classical anatomical description of the mesocolon is credited to British surgeon [[Sir Frederick Treves]] in 1885,<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|author=Treves F|date=March 1885|title=Lectures on the Anatomy of the Intestinal Canal and Peritoneum in Man|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|volume=1|issue=1264|pages=580–3|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.1264.580|pmc=2255923|pmid=20751205}}</ref> although a description of the membrane as a single structure dates back to at least [[Leonardo da Vinci]].<ref name="ls">{{Cite web |url=http://www.livescience.com/57370-mesentery-new-organ-identified.html |title=Gut Decision: Scientists Identify New Organ in Humans  |last=Miller |first=Sara G |date=January 3, 2017 |publisher=[[Live Science]]}}</ref> Treves is known for performing the first [[appendectomy]] in England in 1888; he was surgeon to both [[Queen Victoria]] and [[King Edward VII]].<ref name=":2">{{cite journal|vauthors=Mirilas P, Skandalakis JE|date=June 2003|title=Not just an appendix: Sir Frederick Treves|journal=[[Archives of Disease in Childhood]]|volume=88|issue=6|pages=549–52|doi=10.1136/adc.88.6.549|pmc=1763108|pmid=12765932}}</ref> He studied the human mesentery and peritoneal folds in 100 cadavers and described the right and left mesocolons as vestigial or absent in the human adult. Accordingly, the small intestinal mesentery, transverse, and sigmoid mesocolons all terminated or attached at their insertions into the posterior abdominal wall.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> These assertions were included in mainstream surgical, anatomical, embryological, and radiologic literature for more than a century.<ref>Ellis H. The abdomen and pelvis. In: Ellis H, editor. Clinical anatomy: applied anatomy for students and junior doctors. 12th ed. Blackwell Science; 2010. p. 86.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=McMinn RH |chapter=The gastrointestinal tract |editor=McMinn RH |title=Last's anatomy: regional and applied |edition=9th |location=London |publisher=Langman Group |year=1994 |page=331e42}}</ref>

Almost 10 years before Treves, the Austrian anatomist [[Carl Toldt]] described the persistence of all portions of the mesocolon into adulthood.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal |author=Toldt C |title=Bau und wachstumsveranterungen der gekrose des menschlischen darmkanales |journal=Denkschrdmathnaturwissensch |year=1879 |volume=41 |pages=1–56}}</ref>  Toldt was professor of anatomy in Prague and Vienna; he published his account of the human mesentery in 1879. Toldt identified a fascial plane between the mesocolon and the underlying retroperitoneum, formed by the fusion of the visceral peritoneum of the mesocolon with the parietal peritoneum of the retroperitoneum; this later became known as Toldt's fascia.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Toldt C |chapter=Splanchology – general considerations |editor1=Toldt C |editor2=Della Rossa A |title=An atlas of human anatomy for students and physicians |location=New York |publisher=Rebman Company |year=1919 |volume=4 |page=408}}</ref>

In 1942, anatomist [[Edward Congdon]] also demonstrated that the
right and left mesocolons persisted into adulthood and remained separate from the retroperitoneum—extraretroperitoneal.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Edgar D. |last1=Congdon |first2=Ralph |last2=Blumberg |first3=William |last3=Henry |date=March 1942 |title=Fasciae of fusion and elements of the fused enteric mesenteries in the human adult |journal=American Journal of Anatomy |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=251–79 |doi=10.1002/aja.1000700204}}</ref> Radiologist [[Wylie J. Dodds]] described this concept in 1986.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal|vauthors=Dodds WJ, Darweesh RM, Lawson TL, etal|date=December 1986|title=The retroperitoneal spaces revisited|journal=AJR. American Journal of Roentgenology|volume=147|issue=6|pages=1155–61|doi=10.2214/ajr.147.6.1155|pmid=3490750}}</ref> Dodds extrapolated that unless the mesocolon remained an extraretroperitoneal structure—separate from the retroperitoneum—only then would the radiologic appearance of the mesentery and peritoneal folds be reconciled with actual anatomy.<ref name=":4" />

Descriptions of the mesocolon by Toldt, Congdon, and Dodds have largely been ignored in mainstream literature until recently. A formal appraisal of the mesenteric organ anatomy was conducted in 2012; it echoed the findings of Toldt, Congdon, and Dodds.<ref name="Culligan">{{cite journal |vauthors=Culligan K, Coffey JC, Kiran RP, Kalady M, Lavery IC, Remzi FH |title=The mesocolon: a prospective observational study |journal=Colorectal Disease |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=421–8; discussion 428–30 |date=April 2012  |pmid=22230129 |doi=10.1111/j.1463-1318.2012.02935.x|s2cid=205534095 }}</ref> The single greatest advance in this regard was the identification of the mesenteric organ as being contiguous, as it spans the gastrointestinal tract from duodenojejunal flexure to mesorectal level.<ref name="Culligan" />

In 2012 it was discovered that the mesentery was a single organ, which precipitated advancement in colon and rectum surgery<ref name="WJGO">{{cite journal|last1=Zheng|first1=MH|last2=Zhang|first2=S|last3=Feng|first3=B|date=15 March 2016|title=Complete mesocolic excision: Lessons from anatomy translating to better oncologic outcome.|journal=[[World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology]]|volume=8|issue=3|pages=235–9|doi=10.4251/wjgo.v8.i3.235|pmc=4789608|pmid=26989458 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and in sciences related to [[anatomy]] and [[prenatal development|development]].

=== Etymology ===
The word "mesentery" and its [[Neo-Latin]] equivalent ''{{lang|la|mesenterium}}'' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ɛ|z|ə|n|ˈ|t|ɛ|r|i|ə|m}}) use the [[classical compound|combining forms]] ''[[wikt:meso-#Prefix|mes-]]'' + ''[[wikt:enteron#Noun|enteron]]'', ultimately from ancient Greek {{lang|grc|μεσέντερον}} (''{{Transliteration|grc|mesenteron}}''), from {{lang|grc|[[wikt:μέσος#Ancient Greek|μέσος]]}} (''{{Transliteration|grc|mésos}}'', "middle") + {{lang|grc|[[wikt:ἔντερον#Ancient Greek|ἔντερον]]}} (''{{Transliteration|grc|énteron}}'', "gut"), yielding "mid-intestine" or "midgut". The adjectival form is "mesenteric" ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ɛ|z|ə|n|ˈ|t|ɛ|r|ᵻ|k}}).

=== Lymphangiology ===
An improved understanding of mesenteric structure and histology has enabled a formal characterization of mesenteric lymphangiology.<ref name=pmid24441808/> [[Stereology|Stereologic]] assessments of the lymphatic vessels demonstrate a rich lymphatic network embedded within the mesenteric connective tissue lattice. On average, vessels occur every {{Convert|0.14|mm|inch|abbr=on}}, and within {{Convert|0.1|mm|inch|abbr=on}} from the mesocolic surfaces—anterior and posterior. Lymphatic channels have also been identified in Toldt's fascia, though the significance of this is unknown.<ref name=pmid24441808/>