Anatomy of the Female Reproductive Organs: Overview

00:01 In this next topic, we're going to look at the female reproductive organs.

00:06 So let's start by introducing those organs.

00:11 So what we're looking at here is the lateral view.

00:14 To the left hand side we have the anterior aspect, and to the right hand side we have the posterior aspect.

00:20 And first of all, we have the external genitalia.

00:23 And that may look quite complicated at the moment.

00:25 We'll come back to that in the next topic around the perineum.

00:29 But specifically, we're going to look at the internal genitalia here.

00:33 We have the vagina, which leads on via the cervix to the uterus.

00:37 We then have the uterine tubes, and we have our ovaries.

00:41 So we're going to look at these structures in more detail.

00:45 Now, first of all, let's go back to a familiar image.

00:48 If you looked at the previous topic introducing the pelvis.

00:52 Here we have anteriorly the pubic symphysis and then immediately posterior to that we have the bladder, and then we find the first of our female reproductive organs.

01:02 We have the uterus. We have the vagina.

01:05 Posterior to those two, we then have the rectum.

01:09 If we can remind ourselves that we have a layer of peritoneum, which is coming down from the posterior aspect of the anterior abdominal wall.

01:17 Curving over the surface of the bladder to then form these two pouches, either side of the uterus.

01:24 So between the uterus and the bladder, this pouching of peritoneum creates the vesicouterine pouch, and then between the rectum and the posterior aspect of the uterus, and the fallacies of the vagina, we have the recto-uterine pouch.

01:40 And again, this is important because this pouch is the lowest part of the peritoneal cavity.

01:45 And if it was to have an accumulation of free fluid, or pus, then you can drain that fluid by passing through the vagina, a transvaginal approach, passing through the posterior fornix and draining fluid from this aspect.

02:01 So now let's have a look at these organs in situ within the bony pelvis.

02:06 So we're looking kind of anterior superior view.

02:09 So we're looking kind of down from the front aspects of the body.

02:13 And we can see if we zoom in, we have the pubic symphysis, most anteriorly.

02:20 We then moving posteriorly have the urinary bladder.

02:23 We have the uterus.

02:24 We have the fallopian tubes lateral to the uterus, where we see the ovaries, and then we have the rectum most posteriorly.

02:33 This means we can then appreciate the vesicouterine pouch, and the rectouterine pouch as being those deepest aspects of the peritoneal cavity as it extends down from the abdomen, into the pelvis.

02:46 So these organs are really protruding up from the pelvis into the false pelvis as they're taking a layer of peritoneum with them and situated within the abdominal cavity.

02:58 This is obviously important as the uterus if it was to become gravid.

03:02 So pregnant, then that uterus would then fill with the embryo and the growing fetus and it would expand outwards into the abdominal cavity and then outwards by the anterior abdominal wall.

03:17 It couldn't do this if it was retained within the bony pelvis.