the.com/duodenum
the first ten inches of intestine, where your breakfast meets a chemical wrecking crew.
means The first section of the small intestine, just past the stomach, where digestive juices from the pancreas and gallbladder break food down before nutrients get absorbed further along.
from From the medieval Latin duodenum digitorum, "of twelve fingers' breadths" — anatomists measured this stretch of gut at roughly twelve fingerwidths long. The Latin duodeni ("twelve each") comes from duo ("two") plus decem ("ten"). So the name is literally a tiny ruler: a length you could once mark off with your hands.
- name origin
- Latin for twelve, its width in finger-breadths.
- acid neutralizer
- Dumps bicarbonate to save itself from stomach acid.
- hormone command
- Tells the pancreas and gallbladder when to fire.
- C-shaped
- Curls around the head of the pancreas.
- ulcer hotspot
- Most peptic ulcers strike here, not the stomach.
duodenal ulcer — affects the first part of the small intestine in approximately 5% of the population
duodenal atresia — congenital condition where the duodenum fails to develop properly, occurring in 1 per 10,000 births