Uterine Tubes

oviducts, fallopian tubes (after the Italian anatomist G. Falloppio, who first described the tubes in the mid-16th century), in women, the paired tubular organ through which the ovum passes from the ovary into the uterus.

One end of each uterine tube communicates with the uterine cavity through the uterine aperture; the other end opens into the abdominal cavity near the ovary, for which the uterine tube is a sort of efferent duct. The tube passes along the upper edge of the broad ligaments, which serve as its mesentery. The length of the uterine tube is 6-20 cm (most often, 10-12 cm). The wall of the tube consists of serous membrane (on all sides), three layers of musculature, and a mucous membrane. Blood is supplied by branches of the uterine and ovarian arteries; innervation is provided by branches of the ovarian and pelvic neural plexuses.