Large intestine

Large intestine
Front of abdomen, showing the large intestine, with the stomach and small intestine in gray.
Details
Part ofGastrointestinal tract
SystemDigestive system
ArterySuperior mesenteric, inferior mesenteric and iliac arteries
VeinSuperior and inferior mesenteric vein
LymphInferior mesenteric lymph nodes
Identifiers
Latincolon or intestinum crassum
MeSHD007420
TA98A05.7.01.001
TA22963
FMA7201
Anatomical terminology
Major parts of the
Gastrointestinal tract
Upper gastrointestinal tract
Lower gastrointestinal tract
See also

The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before being removed by defecation.[1] The colon is the longest portion of the large intestine, and the terms are often used interchangeably but most sources define the large intestine as the combination of the cecum, colon, rectum, and anal canal.[1][2][3] Some other sources exclude the anal canal.[4][5][6]

In humans, the large intestine begins in the right iliac region of the pelvis, just at or below the waist, where it is joined to the end of the small intestine at the cecum, via the ileocecal valve. It then continues as the colon ascending the abdomen, across the width of the abdominal cavity as the transverse colon, and then descending to the rectum and its endpoint at the anal canal.[7] Overall, in humans, the large intestine is about 1.5 metres (5 ft) long, which is about one-fifth of the whole length of the human gastrointestinal tract.[8]

  1. ^ a b "large intestine". NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms. National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. 2011-02-02. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
  2. ^ Kapoor, Vinay Kumar (13 Jul 2011). Gest, Thomas R. (ed.). "Large Intestine Anatomy". Medscape. WebMD LLC. Retrieved 2013-08-20.
  3. ^ Gray, Henry (1918). Gray's Anatomy. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger.
  4. ^ "large intestine". Mosby's Medical Dictionary (8th ed.). Elsevier. 2009. ISBN 9780323052900.
  5. ^ "intestine". Concise Medical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2010. ISBN 9780199557141.
  6. ^ "large intestine". A Dictionary of Biology. Oxford University Press. 2013. ISBN 9780199204625.
  7. ^ "Large intestine". Archived from the original on 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  8. ^ Drake, R.L.; Vogl, W.; Mitchell, A.W.M. (2010). Gray's Anatomy for Students. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone.