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WHAT IS A VALVE?
A valve is a natural structure or man-made device in a passageway, tube, vessel, or hollow organ that allows fluid or partly fluid contents to travel in one direction, but closes to prevent the flow of those contents in the opposite direction.
WHAT IS THE ILEOCECAL VALVE?
The ileocecal valve connects the ileum of the small intestine and the cecum of the large intestine. The intestine is a tube shaped structure that is part of the digestive tract. The intestine is divided into two main sections: the small intestine and the large intestine. The small intestine takes in all of the nutrients (healthy substances) that the body needs. The ileum is the last, longest, and narrowest of the three parts that make up the small intestine. The large intestine absorbs moisture from the matter that is left, and excretes the waste from the anus. Excrete means to release from the body as waste. The cecum is the first part of the large intestine. WHAT DOES THE ILEOCECAL VALVE LOOK LIKE?
The ileocecal valve has two flaps that go into the tube-shaped space of the large intestine, immediately above the vermiform appendix. The vermiform appendix is a wormlike structure that extends from the first part of the large intestine. In living people, the ileocecal valve looks like a shortened cone, with a star shaped opening. In dead people, the ileocecal valve looks like a two-lipped structure.
WHAT DOES THE ILEOCECAL VALVE DO?
Food normally travels from the small intestine to large intestine. The ileocecal valve prevents food from reentering the small intestine once it gets to the large intestine. In other words, it prevents the food from traveling backwards, from the large intestine to the small intestine. In ileocecal valve disorder, the function of the ileocecal valve can be impaired due to irritation. Please see the entry for ileocecal valve disorder to learn more about this condition.
WHAT ELSE IS THE ILEOCECAL VALVE KNOWN AS?
The ileocecal valve is also known as the ileocecal papilla, papilla ilealis, valva ileocecalis, Bauhin valve, ileocecal eminence, ileocolic valve, Tulp valve, valve of Varolius, and the Tulpius valve.
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM "ILEOCECAL VALVE"?
Ileocecal valve comes from the Latin word "ileum" meaning "intestine," the Latin word "caecus" meaning "blind," and the Latin word "valvarum" meaning "folding door." Put the words together and you have "blind intestine folding door."
The ileocecal valve is a type of sphincter muscle. A sphincter is a muscle that forms a circle around a tube, natural opening, or duct in the body. A duct is a tube that allows fluids and/or substances to pass through it.
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