In human anatomy, the mesentery is an organ that attaches the intestines to the posterior abdominal wall, consisting of a double fold of the peritoneum.

It helps (among other functions) in storing fat and allowing blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves to supply the intestines.

This section of the small intestine is located centrally in the abdominal cavity and lies behind the transverse colon and the greater omentum.

A plane occupied by perinephric fascia was shown to separate the entire apposed small intestinal mesentery and the mesocolon from the retroperitoneum.

Understanding the macroscopic structure of the mesenteric organ meant that associated structures—the peritoneal folds and congenital and omental adhesions—could be better appraised.

This fold is divided during lateral to medial mobilization, permitting the surgeon to serially lift the right colon and associated mesentery off the underlying fascia and retroperitoneum.

Division of the fold in this location permits separation of the colonic component of the hepatic flexure and mesocolon off the retroperitoneum.

[2][6] Interposed between the hepatic and splenic flexures, the greater omentum adheres to the transverse colon along a further band or fold of peritoneum.

Division of the latter similarly allows for the separation of the left colon and associated mesentery off the underlying fascia and frees it from the retroperitoneum.

[2][6] Determination of the macroscopic structure of the mesenteric organ allowed a recent characterisation of the histological and electron microscopic properties.

The gastrointestinal tract and associated dorsal mesentery are subdivided into foregut, midgut, and hindgut regions based on the respective blood supply.

Most anatomical and embryological textbooks say that after adopting a final position, the ascending and descending mesocolons disappear during embryogenesis.

The development of the septum transversum takes part in the formation of the diaphragm, while the caudal portion into which the liver grows forms the ventral mesentery.

[11] The lesser omentum is formed, by a thinning of the mesoderm or ventral mesogastrium, which attaches the stomach and duodenum to the anterior abdominal wall.

[13] The rationalization of mesenteric and peritoneal fold anatomy permits the surgeon to differentiate both from intraperitoneal adhesions—also called congenital adhesions.

Similarly, focal adhesions occur between the undersurface of the greater omentum and the cephalad aspect of the transverse mesocolon.

Adhesions here must be divided to separate the greater omentum off the transverse mesocolon, thus allowing access to the lesser sac proper.

[15][16] Total or complete mesocolic excision (CME), use planar surgery and extensive mesenterectomy (high tie) to minimise breach of the mesentery and maximise lymph nodes yield.

Clarification of the radiological appearance of the human mesentery resonates with the suggestions of Dodds and enables a clearer conceptualization of mesenteric derangements in disease states.

Accordingly, the small intestinal mesentery, transverse, and sigmoid mesocolons all terminated or attached at their insertions into the posterior abdominal wall.

[18] Dodds extrapolated that unless the mesocolon remained an extraretroperitoneal structure—separate from the retroperitoneum—only then would the radiologic appearance of the mesentery and peritoneal folds be reconciled with actual anatomy.

A formal appraisal of the mesenteric organ anatomy was conducted in 2012; it echoed the findings of Toldt, Congdon, and Dodds.

[6] The single greatest advance in this regard was the identification of the mesenteric organ as being contiguous, as it spans the gastrointestinal tract from duodenojejunal flexure to mesorectal level.

[6] In 2012 it was discovered that the mesentery was a single organ, which precipitated advancement in colon and rectum surgery[29] and in sciences related to anatomy and development.

The word "mesentery" and its Neo-Latin equivalent mesenterium (/ˌmɛzənˈtɛriəm/) use the combining forms mes- + enteron, ultimately from ancient Greek μεσέντερον (mesenteron), from μέσος (mésos, "middle") + ἔντερον (énteron, "gut"), yielding "mid-intestine" or "midgut".