According to a new study, you now have one more organ in your body.

It’s called the mesentery, and its purpose is to hold the body’s organs – mainly the large and small intestines – to the abdominal wall.

The new organ was identified by Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, a professor of surgery at the University of Limerick in Ireland, and Dr. D Peter O’Leary, the specialist registrar of general surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. They published a study in November that revealed their research. Prior to their findings, the mesentery – now the body’s 79th organ – was considered separate pieces, and its function was unclear.

Coffey and O’Leary have studied the anatomy and structure of the mesentery, but have yet to discover its true physiological purpose. Their study has opened up an entirely new field of research based around the mesentery. This new organ can lead to new discoveries in disease, surgical methods and recovery.

“This is relevant universally as it affects all of us. Up to now there was no such field as mesenteric science. Now we have established anatomy and the structure. The next step is the function. If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease. Put them all together and you have the field of mesenteric science…the basis for a whole new area of science,” Coffey said in a press release.

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