Ascending colon
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
At the time the article was created Henry Knipe had no recorded disclosures.
View Henry Knipe's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Calum Worsley had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Calum Worsley's current disclosures- Ascending colons
The ascending colon is the second part of the large bowel.
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Gross anatomy
The ascending colon is the continuation of the cecum superior to the ileocecal valve. It is 15 cm in length and is secondarily retroperitoneal, although it has its own mesentery in approximately 25% of patients 1,2.
The ascending colon courses up the right posterior abdominal wall until it reaches the level of the right kidney and courses anteromedially to form the hepatic flexure, where it continues as the transverse colon 1,2.
Relations
anterior: loops of small bowel, greater omentum, anterior abdominal wall
posterior: posterior abdominal wall
laterally: right paracolic gutter
medially: right inframesocolic space 1
Arterial supply
colic branch of the ileocolic artery and right colic arteries - branches of superior mesenteric artery 2
Venous drainage
veins, similarly named to arteries, draining into portal venous system 2
also drains via the lumbar veins (as it is retroperitoneal) to the inferior vena cava - this is a pathway for portal-systemic collateral pathways 3
Lymphatic drainage
Lymph runs with the arteries to the paracolic lymph nodes, which drain into the superior mesenteric group 1.
Innervation
parasympathetic: pelvic splanchnic nerves (from S2-S4) 1
Related pathology
Quiz questions
References
- 1. Paul Butler, Adam Mitchell, Jeremiah C. Healy. Applied Radiological Anatomy. (2012) ISBN: 9780521766661 - Google Books
- 2. Cornelius Rosse, Penelope Gaddum-Rosse, William Henry Hollinshead. Hollinshead's Textbook of Anatomy. (1997) ISBN: 0397512562 - Google Books
- 3. Michael Schünke, Erik Schulte, Udo Schumacher et al. Neck and Internal Organs. (2010) ISBN: 9781604062946 - Google Books
Incoming Links
- Medical abbreviations and acronyms (A)
- Taeniae coli
- Cecum
- Right colic flexure
- Omental infarction
- Transverse colon
- Properitoneal fat
- Cecal volvulus
- CT colonography reporting and data system
- Inframesocolic space
- Pneumoretroperitoneum
- Necrotising enterocolitis
- Typhlitis
- Lesser sac hernia
- Superior mesenteric plexus
- Right hemicolectomy
- Magnetic Resonance Index of Activity (MaRIA)
- Colic branch of the ileocolic artery
- Retroperitoneal organs (mnemonic)
- Ileocaecal valve
Related articles: Anatomy: Abdominopelvic
- skeleton of the abdomen and pelvis
- muscles of the abdomen and pelvis
- spaces of the abdomen and pelvis
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- posterior abdominal wall
- abdominal cavity
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adrenal gland
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abdominal aorta
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internal pudendal artery
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