Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix, a small, potentially vestigial organ that branches off the large intestine. Inflammation is usually a result of some sort of obstruction in the lumen of the appendix, which ultimately leads to infection.
The appendix, long misunderstood as a vestigial organ, is now recognized as a key MALT structure, playing an essential role in B-lymphocyte-mediated immune responses, hosting extrathymically derived T-lymphocytes, regulating pathogens through its lymphatic vessels, and potentially producing early defenses against diseases. [1]
Anatomy photo:37:12-0102 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center—"Abdominal Cavity: The Cecum and the Vermiform Appendix" "The vestigiality of the human vermiform appendix: A Modern Reappraisal"—evolutionary biology argument that the appendix is vestigial; Smith HF, Fisher RE, Everett ML, Thomas AD, Bollinger RR, Parker W (October 2009).
Ileum, caecum and colon of rabbit, showing Appendix vermiformis on fully functional caecum The human vermiform appendix on the vestigial caecum. The appendix was once believed to be a vestige of a redundant organ that in ancestral species had digestive functions, much as it still does in extant species in which intestinal flora hydrolyze cellulose and similar indigestible plant materials. [10]
In humans, the vermiform appendix is sometimes called a vestigial structure as it has lost much of its ancestral digestive function.. Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. [1]
Inflamed appendix removal by open surgery Laparoscopic appendectomy. Laparoscopic view of a phlegmonous cecal appendix with fibrinous plaques, located in the right iliac fossa. The surgical procedure for the removal of the appendix is called an appendectomy. Appendectomy can be performed through open or laparoscopic surgery.
Peyer's patches (or aggregated lymphoid nodules) are organized lymphoid follicles, named after the 17th-century Swiss anatomist Johann Conrad Peyer. [1] They are an important part of gut associated lymphoid tissue usually found in humans in the lowest portion of the small intestine, mainly in the distal jejunum and the ileum, but also could be detected in the duodenum.
This category reflects the organization of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision. Generally, diseases outlined within the ICD-10 codes K35-K38 within Chapter XI: Diseases of the digestive system should be included in this category.