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Cecum: anatomy, location and function

The caecum is the first part of the large intestine, a blind-ending pouch in the right lower abdomen below the point where the small intestine joins the colon. It acts as a reservoir for chyme received from the ileum before it moves on into the ascending colon.

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Highlighted in the model: Cecum. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The default body is an adult male.

Cecum at a glance

Also called
Caecum
What it is
The caecum is the first part of the large intestine, a blind-ending pouch in the right lower abdomen below the point where the small intestine joins the colon.
Location
It lies in the right iliac fossa, below the ileocaecal junction, where the ileum opens into it through the ileocaecal valve, and above the lateral third of the inguinal ligament. Above, it continues as the ascending colon. The appendix arises from its posteromedial wall.
Function
It acts as a reservoir for chyme received from the ileum before it moves on into the ascending colon.
Body system
Digestive · single, midline structure
FMA ID
FMA14541 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is about 6 cm long; a caecum wider than 9 cm is considered abnormally dilated.
  • The appendix usually arises about 2 cm below the ileocaecal valve.
  • It is covered by peritoneum except at the back; about 15% of people have a mobile caecum because the right colonic mesentery did not fuse to the lateral peritoneum.
  • Its arteries, the anterior and posterior caecal arteries, come from the ileocolic artery, a branch of the superior mesenteric artery.

Clinical relevance

A mobile caecum can twist (caecal volvulus).

Structures next to the cecum

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Cecum (FMA14541). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. Radiopaedia. Caecum.
  3. TeachMeAnatomy. The Caecum and Appendix.
  4. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §23.1 Overview of the Digestive System. Rice University, 2022.
  5. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.