Broad ligament of uterus

In the female, pararectal and paravesical fossæ similar to those in the male are present: the lateral limit of the paravesical fossa is the peritoneum investing the round ligament of the uterus. The rectovesical excavation is, however, divided by the uterus and vagina into a small anterior vesicouterine excavation (Vesicouterine pouch) and a large, deep, posterior rectouterine excavation. The sacrogenital folds form the margins of the latter, and are continued on to the back of the uterus to form a transverse fold, the torus uterinus. The broad ligaments extend from the sides of the uterus to the lateral walls of the pelvis; they contain in their free margins the uterine tubes, and in their posterior layers the ovaries. Below, the broad ligaments are continuous with the peritoneum on the lateral walls of the pelvis. On the lateral pelvic wall behind the attachment of the broad ligament, in the angle between the elevations produced by the diverging hypogastric and external iliac vessels is a slight fossa, the ovarian fossa, in which the ovary normally lies.