OVARIES & UTERINE TUBES S-IV RM39
 Learning objectives
 At the end of the discussion the student will be able:
 To define the relation of ovaries.
 To describe the gross features of ovaries.
 To enlist the part of fallopian tube.
 To explain the pathway of tube to the uterus with relations.
 Ovary
 ovaries develop high on the posterior abdominal wall and then descend before birth, bringing
with them their vessels, lymphatics, and nerves.
 Unlike the testes, the ovaries do not migrate through the inguinal canal into the perineum.
 The ovaries are the sites of egg production (oogenesis).
 Mature eggs are ovulated into the peritoneal cavity and normally directed into the adjacent
openings of the uterine tubes by cilia on the ends of the uterine tubes.
 The ovaries lie adjacent to the lateral pelvic wall just inferior to the pelvic inlet. Each of the two
almond-shaped ovaries is about 3 cm long and is suspended by a mesentery
(the mesovarium) from the posterior aspect of the broad ligament.
 The broad ligament is a sheet-like fold of peritoneum, oriented in the coronal plane that runs
from the lateral pelvic wall to the uterus, and encloses the uterine tube in its superior margin.
 The part of the broad ligament between the origin of the mesovarium and the uterine tube is
the mesosalpinx.
 The peritoneum of the mesovarium becomes firmly attached to the ovary as the surface
epithelium of the ovary. The ovaries are positioned with their long axis in the vertical plane.
 The ovarian vessels, nerves, and lymphatics enter the superior pole of the ovary from a lateral
position and are covered by another raised fold of peritoneum, which with the structures it
contains forms the suspensory ligament of ovary (infundibulopelvic ligament).
 The inferior pole of the ovary is attached to a fibromuscular band of tissue (the ligament of
ovary), which courses medially in the margin of the mesovarium to the uterus and then
continues anterolaterally as the round ligament of uterus .
•
The round ligament of uterus passes over the pelvic inlet to reach the deep inguinal ring and
then courses through the inguinal canal to end in connective tissue related to the labium majus
in the perineum.
•
Both the ligament of ovary and the round ligament of uterus are remnants of the
gubernaculum, which attached the gonad to the labioscrotal swellings in the embryo.
 Blood supply
 Ovarian arteries.
 Uterine arteries.
 Uterine Tubes



•
The uterine tubes extend from each side of the superior end of the body of the uterus to the
lateral pelvic wall and are enclosed within the upper margins of the mesosalpinx portions of the
broad ligaments.
•
Because the ovaries are suspended from the posterior aspect of the broad ligaments, the
uterine tubes pass superiorly over, and terminate laterally to, the ovaries.
Uterine tubes
Each uterine tube has an expanded trumpet-shaped end (the infundibulum), which curves
around the superolateral pole of the related ovary .
The margin of the infundibulum is rimmed with small finger-like projections termed fimbriae.

The lumen of the uterine tube opens into the peritoneal cavity at the narrowed end of the
infundibulum.

Medial to the infundibulum, the tube expands to form the ampulla and then narrows to form
the isthmus, before joining with the body of the uterus.

The fimbriated infundibulum facilitates the collection of ovulated eggs from the ovary.
Fertilization normally occurs in the ampulla.

Blood supply

Uterine arteries—medial 2/3.

Ovarian aretries –lateral 1/3.

APPLIED ANATOMY

Poly cystic ovaries

Fibrosis

Carcinoma

Inflammation

Tubal ligation