Sigmoid mesocolon

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Sigmoid mesocolon
Diagram showing the lines along which the peritoneum leaves the wall of the abdomen to invest the viscera. (Sigmoid mesocolon labeled at bottom right, third from the bottom.)
Latin mesocolon transversum
Gray's subject #246 1157
Dorlands/Elsevier m_10/12526431

The sigmoid mesocolon is the fold of peritoneum which retains the sigmoid colon in connection with the pelvic wall.

Its line of attachment forms a V-shaped curve, the apex of the curve being placed about the point of division of the left common iliac artery.

The curve begins on the medial side of the left Psoas major, and runs upward and backward to the apex, from which it bends sharply downward, and ends in the median plane at the level of the third sacral vertebra.

The sigmoid and superior hemorrhoidal vessels run between the two layers of this fold.

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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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.