Vermiform appendix Health Dictionary

A term applied to the appendages of several hollow organs: for example, the larynx has two pouches called appendices, and the epiploic appendices are the tags of fat that hang from the exterior part of the large intestine. The commonest application, however, is to the vermiform appendix of the large intestine. This is a short, slim, blind-ended tube up to 10 cm long attached to the caecum (a pouch at the start of the large intestine). Its function is unknown, though it may once have had one in ancestral humans. It is, however, prone to in?ammation and infection (see APPENDICITIS).... appendix