From Wn.com

Irish scientists have identified a new organ hiding in plain sight inside the human body, The Independent reports..

Known as the mesentery, it was previously thought to be just a few fragmented structures in the digestive system. Now, scientists have realized it is in fact one, continuous organ.

Although its function is still unclear, the discovery opens up “a whole new area of science,” according to J. Calvin Coffey, a researcher at the University Hospital Limerick, who first discovered it.

“When we approach it like every other organ… we can categorize abdominal disease in terms of this organ.” – J. Calvin Coffey

“Now we have established anatomy and the structure. The next step is the function. If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease,” Coffey added. “Put them all together and you have the field of mesenteric science.”

The research has been published in The Lancet medical journal.

Following its reclassification, medical students are now being taught that the mesentery is a distinct organ.

The organ is a double fold of peritoneum – the lining of the abdominal cavity – that holds our intestine to the wall of our abdomen.

It was described by the Italian polymath Leanardo da Vinci in 1508, but it has been ignored throughout the centuries, until now.

WN.com, Jim Berrie

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