mesentery
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Two 'newly discovered' human organs aren't what they seem
For a minute there, 2018 was shaping up to be a year of new-organ discoveries. In January, Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, foundation chair of surgery at the University of Limerick, declared that he had "discovered" a new organ, dubbed the mesentery. Then, in March, fledgling science journal Scientific Reports declared the interstitium, a fluid-filled membrane that surrounds the lungs, digestive tracts and arteries, an organ as well. If verified by the rest of the medical community, these findings could potentially revolutionize our understanding of the human body. There's only one problem with that: These biological structures aren't actually organs.
Scientists confirm a 'new' human organ
For centuries, the mesentery (which links the intestine to the abdomen) has been treated as a group of distinct structures in your digestive system. It wasn't anything special. However, the medical world now has to rethink that belief. Scientists recently determined that the mesentery is really one, cohesive entity -- that's right, they confirmed the existence of a 'new' organ. Researchers first discovered the continuous nature of the mesentery through microscopic examinations in 2012, but the past few years have shown that it has enough function to be considered an organ.
