Large intestine – intestinum crassum

-          is the last part of the digestive tube, which receives  mushy to liquid contents from the small intestine - chymus.

In the colon, water and electrolytes are absorbed from chyme. The contents of the colon are formed in the stool. The length of the colon is 1.2-1.5 m and the width of the colon is approximately 4-7.5 cm.

We differentiate the following sections of the colon:

1. caecum (intestinum caecum) – the widest part, located in the right iliac fossa and ileocaecal insertion on the left side of the caecum, appendix vermiformis – attached to the blind-ended lower end of the caecum;
2. colon (bowel) – the main part of the colon that includes:
1. colon ascendens (ascending colon) – from the appendix on the right side up under the liver;
2. colon transversum (transverse colon) – from right to left under the liver and stomach towards the spleen;
3. colon descendens (descending colon) – on the left side of the abdominal cavity from the spleen to the left iliac fossa;

                3.     colon sigmoideum – from the end of the colon descendens to the middle

Between the sections of the colon we find typical bends:

1. flexura coli dextra – under the liver (the right colic flexure - hepatic flexure), between the colon ascendens and transversum;
2. flexura coli sinistra – under the spleen (the left colic flexure - splenic flexure), between the colon transversum and descendens, higher than the right flexure;

For more detailed information see anatomy and histology, physiology.

Frank H. Netter, Netter atlas of human anatomy. 2005