Descending colon
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Overview
| Descending colon | |
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| Front of abdomen, showing surface markings for liver, stomach, and great intestine. (Descending colon visible at center right, in blue.) | |
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| The duodenum and pancreas. (Descending colon visible at lower right.) | |
| Latin | colon descendens |
| Gray's | subject #249 1181 |
| Artery | Left colic artery |
| Precursor | Hindgut |
| MeSH | Colon,+Descending |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | c_47/12249871 |
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The descending colon of humans passes downward through the left hypochondrium and lumbar regions, along the lateral border of the left kidney.
At the lower end of the kidney it turns medialward toward the lateral border of the psoas muscle, and then descends, in the angle between psoas and quadratus lumborum, to the crest of the ilium, where it ends in the sigmoid colon.
The peritoneum covers its anterior surface and sides, and therefore the descending colon is described as retroperitoneal. (The transverse colon and sigmoid colon, which are immediately proximal and distal, are intraperitoneal). Its posterior surface is connected by areolar tissue with the lower and lateral part of the left kidney, the aponeurotic origin of the transversus abdominis, and the quadratus lumborum.
It is smaller in caliber and more deeply placed than the ascending colon. It has a mesentery in 33% of people, and is therefore more frequently covered with peritoneum on its posterior surface than the ascending colon (which has a mesentery in 25% of people). However, it is less likely to undergo volvulus than the ascending colon.
In front of it are some coils of small intestine.
Additional images
 Intestines |
 Schema |
 Horizontal disposition of the peritoneum in the lower part of the abdomen. |
 Transverse section through the middle of the first lumbar vertebra, showing the relations of the pancreas. |
 The relations of the kidneys from behind. |
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 Digestive system |
External links
- SUNY Figs 37:06-06 - "The large intestine."
- SUNY Labs 37:13-0100
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
