Ascending colon

Ascending colon
1: Ascending colon 2: Transverse colon 3: Descending colon 4: Sigmoid colon 5: Rectum
Front of abdomen, showing surface markings for liver, stomach, and great intestine.
Latin	colon ascendens
Gray's	subject #249 1180
Artery	Right colic artery
Vein	Right colic vein
Nerve	celiac ganglia, vagus
Precursor	Midgut
Dorlands/Elsevier	c_47/12249866

The ascending colon is smaller in caliber than the cecum, with which it is continuous.

It passes upward, from its commencement at the cecum, opposite the colic valve, to the under surface of the right lobe of the liver, on the right of the gall-bladder, where it is lodged in a shallow depression, the colic impression; here it bends abruptly forward and to the left, forming the right colic flexure (hepatic).

It is retained in contact with the posterior wall of the abdomen by the peritoneum, which covers its anterior surface and sides, its posterior surface being connected by loose areolar tissue with the Iliacus, Quadratus lumborum, aponeurotic origin of Transversus abdominis, and with the front of the lower and lateral part of the right kidney.

Sometimes the peritoneum completely invests it, and forms a distinct but narrow mesocolon.

It is in relation, in front, with the convolutions of the ileum and the abdominal parietes.

See also

• Colon (anatomy)

Additional images

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  Intestines

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  Front view of the thoracic and abdominal viscera.

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  Horizontal disposition of the peritoneum in the lower part of the abdomen.

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  The duodenum and pancreas.

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  Interior of the cecum and lower end of ascending colon, showing colic valve.

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  Transverse section through the middle of the first lumbar vertebra, showing the relations of the pancreas.

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  The relations of the kidneys from behind.

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• Digestive system diagram.svg

  Digestive system

External links

• Ascending+colon at eMedicine Dictionary
• SUNY Figs 37:06-08 - "The large intestine."
• Norman/Georgetown largeintestine (cecuminside)

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.