ABSTRACT
The small intestine is derived from the embryonic midgut and begins growing rapidly in length at the fifth week of gestation. The intestinal lengthening exceeds the rate of growth of the embryonic body; therefore it grows outside the abdomen until the 10th week (2). Term infants are thought to have a length of
small bowel between 200 and 250 cm (3), with the mean adult length being approximately 620 cm (4). However, radiological measurement in adults undergoing small bowel enteroclysis have suggested a lesser mean length (5).
