Demystifying membrane anatomy: Toward a new era of abdominopelvic surgery

Diagram of embryonic development and characteristics of membrane anatomy under laparoscopy

Nucleic acids are responsible for storing life's "genetic code." Decoding nucleic acids enables scientists to understand the essence of life in depth. Anatomy is the foundation of surgery; the secrets of surgery may lie in "natural spaces." An excellent surgeon is always following "avascular natural spaces." Each finding of important spaces is cheering for surgeons and will probably result in a leap in the development of a series of operations. The membrane anatomy (MA) concept has been proposed against this backdrop. It has been described as the "holy plane" and "angel hair" by Dr. Richard J. Heald, who promotes the development of rectal cancer surgery.1 Significant progress has been made in gastrointestinal, rectal, and other surgeries based on the “membrane plane,” which shows fewer surgical complications and a better radical cure.1,2,3 Promisingly, the surgical era of MA is coming. However, the membrane–anatomy structures are hard to display in cadaver dissection or surgical practice. Surgeries today are still mainly based on gross anatomy from cadaver dissection and unsystematic "spaces" found in operations, resulting in a high rate of complications and variation in surgical quality.4 Demystifying human MA is thus of great importance.