Descending colon
Colon descendens
DigestiveOrgansAbdomen
- What it is
- Runs down the left flank from the splenic flexure to the left iliac fossa; retroperitoneal and narrower than the right colon.
- Function
- Stores and propels increasingly solid faeces toward the sigmoid colon.
- Size
- About 25 cm long and about 4 cm wide.
- Clinical note
- Diverticula - pouches pushed out where vessels pierce the wall - are common here and in the sigmoid in people on low-fibre diets.