The colon is the last part of the body’s digestive system.

The digestive system removes and

processes nutrients (vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and water) form foods and

helps pass waste material out of the body. The digestive system is made up of the esophagus,

stomach, and the small and large intestines. The first 6 feet of the large intestine called the large

bowel or colon. The last 6 inches are the rectum and the anal canal. The anal canal ends at the

anus (the opening of the large intestine to the outside of the body).

The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt

from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided

(largely bacteria) fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs. Unlike intestine, the colon does

not play a major role in absorption of foods and nutrients. However, the colon does absorb water,

potassium and some fate soluble vitamins.

The location of the parts of the colon are either in the abdominal cavity or behind it in the

retroperitoneum. The colon in those areas is fixed in location.

Venous drainage usually mirrors colonic arterial supply, with the inferior mesenteric vein

draining into the splenic vein, and the superior mesenteric vein.

The descending colon is the part of the colon from the splenic flexure to the beginning of the

sigmoid colon. The function of the descending colon in the digestive system is to store food that

will be emptied into the rectum. It is retroperitoneal in two-thirds of humans. In the other third, it

has a (usually short) mesentry. The arterial supply comes via the left colic artery.

Patient X, 77 years old from Capangpangan, Vigan City was confined at Surgical Ward of

Ilocos Sur Provincial Hospital – Gabriela Silang last July 31, 20178 She was diagnosed with

Large Bowel Obstructtion and was discharged last August 8, 2018 with a final diagnosis of

Colonic Mass, Descending Colon to consider Malignancy.