A Brand New Human Organ Has Been Discovered In An Interesting Location

Every once in a while, the medical science field unlocks a pretty amazing achievement that will change the way we think of the body from that point on. It turns out a new human organ was just classified and it's in a pretty unique spot of the body. 
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Most of us are pretty familiar with some of the major organs in the body. Brain, stomach, skin, heart, etc. Turns out we have another one no one knew about!

The organ, called the mesentery, resides in your bowel, but it doesn't fit the typical idea of what we all consider an organ.

Hey, it's always good to learn more about your body, right?

For the longest time, medical professionals believed that this structure formed many different membranes in the intestines, but recently it has been found that the mesentery is a continuous structure. 

This is one reason why it's now officially being considered an organ of the body. Let's take a look at what the organ does...

Up until this point, the mesentery was considered a membrane as it connected the large and small intestines in the digestive system. 

In this picture, the mesentery is colored in yellow. 

This major reclassification of the structure is already recognized by top medical professionals. 

The results were published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, a prestigious medical journal.

A researcher from the University Hospital Limerick, J Calvin Coffey, is the first person to make the discovery that it is, in fact, an organ. 

Here he is pictured standing with the now famous mesentery picture. 

In an interview, J Calvin Coffey explained how the medical field has been wrong about the mesentery all along. 

"The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect. This organ is far from fragmented and complex. It is simply one continuous structure."

The discovery has even prompted other changes in the medical community...

The well-known medical anatomy dictionary Gray's Anatomy was also forced to revise their own entry on the mesentery.

Yes, this is the book that inspired the hit TV show. 

Classifying it as an organ can allow scientists to investigate how gastrointestinal disease relates to it. 

"When we approach it like every other organ… we can categorize abdominal disease in terms of this organ," Coffey explained. 

This means if researchers are better able to classify what the organ does, they will be able to understand how diseases manifest, ultimately saving countless lives. 

Science always has a way of surprising us doesn't it?

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h/t Science Alert