Repro 5: The Female Reproductive System Flashcards
What attaches the ovaries to the posterior surface of the broad ligament?
The mesovarium
What is the blood supply to the ovaries?
By the ovarian arteries, which branch directly off the AA just below the renal artery
How does the venous drainage of the right and left ovarian vein differ?
Right ovarian vein drains directly into IVC
Left ovarian vein drains directly into left renal vein
(Same as testes)
What is the broad ligament?
A double layered peritoneum that attaches the sides of the uterus to the pelvis, it acts as a mesentery of the uterus
What is the round ligament?
Remnant of the gubernaculum
Attaches uterus to labia majora via the inguinal canal
What are the ovarian ligaments?
Join ovaries to the uterus
What should the anatomical location of the uterus normally be with respect to the vagina and the cervix?
Anteverted with respect to the vagina
Anteflexed with respect to the cervix
In which part of the uterine tube does fertilisation usually occur?
Ampulla
What is salpingitis?
Inflammation of the uterine tubes due to bacterial infection
Could block the lumen of the tubes and cause infertility/ ectopic pregnancy
What are vaginal fistulae?
Due to traumatic childbirth
Foetus progresses down and cuts off blood supply to an area, so necrosis occurs and there is a fistula (communication between vagina and one the adjacent pelvic organs)
Disease of poverty, c section unavailable
What are the different sections of the uterine tubes called?
Finger like projections called fimbrae, an extension of the infundibulum, which continue into the ampulla and this continues to a narrow segment called the isthmus which opens into the uterine cavity
What are the two parts of the uterus wall?
Thick muscular myometrium (hypertrophies in pregnancy to expel foetus)
Uterine cavity lined internally by mucous membrane endometrium
What is the superficial and the deeper part of the endometrium called?
Superficial part is stratum functionalis, which is subject to cyclical growth, degeneration and shedding
The deeper part is the stratum basalis, does not exhibit cyclical changes and is responsible for regeneration of upper endometrium
Stratum functionalis is shed during menstruation and the stratum basalis produces new stratum functionalis after each menstruation
What are the two regions of the cervix and how do they differ?
The endocervix is lined with tall columnar epithelium
The exocervix is line with stratified sqamous non-keratinised epithelium (as is the vagina)
The change from columnar to stratified squamous epithelium is called the transformation zone
Where in the cervix do the majority of neoplasms form?
In the transformation zone between the endocervix and exocervix
How does the lymphatic drainage of the female reproductive system change?
Ovary to para-aortic nodes
Uterus fundus to aortic nodes
Uterus body to external iliac nodes
Cervix to the external and internal iliac nodes and sacral nodes
What are the glands in the vagina?
There are no glands in the vagina, the mucous lubricating it originate from the cervical glands
What are the vaginal fornices?
Recesses of the vagina round the cervix
Have posterior, anterior, and two lateral
What is the innervation of the vagina and uterus?
Inferior 1/5th receives somatic innervation from the pudendal nerve
Superior 4/5th (and uterus) is innervated by the uterovaginal plexus
What is the innervation of the perineum?
Pudendal nerve
Innervates external genatalia in both sexes, and external urethral sphincters and external anal sphincters
What is the route of the pudendal nerve?
Leaves pelvis via greater sciatic foramen
Enters peritoneum via lesser sciatic foramen
Travels through pudendal canal
The uterine tubes lie in the free edge of which ligament?
Broad ligament
How does ovum move along the uterine tube?
Cilia waft, and peristaltic smooth muscle contractions
How can infection spread from the female reproductive tract to the peritoneum?
At the opening of the uterine tubes at the infundibulum into the peritoneal cavity
