[Anatomy of the visceral fascia of the pelvis from the didactic viewpoint]

Abstract

The fascia-like formations of the pelvic subserosum are unsatisfactorily interpreted by the classical interpretations of "hypogastric gain" or "fibroglia". However, these two opposing concepts can be reconciled if the connective tissue of the female minor pelvis is not seen as a unit but rather as a complex structure. In the surroundings of the pathways directed towards, or originating from, the pelvic viscera, ontogenesis results in a densification of the at first very loose connective tissue and eventually in the formation of fascia-like structures. Hence, these are not primarily basic structures of the vessels and nerves, but originate wherever pathways are already present. Three "roads" lead from three roots in three planes to the inner genital. The road of the veins runs in a "transverse" plane ("horizontal" plane in the standing woman) to the lateral pelvic wall. This is responsible for the formation of the ligamentum cardinale which has been described as the central part of the "fibroglia". The arterial road runs craniocaudally in a "frontal" plane. The branches of the hypogastric artery (a. iliaca interna) have taken densified webs of fascia with them which produce the pattern of "hypogastric gain". The neurovegetative road originates at the sacrum at the foramina sacralia anteriora, and is in "sagittal" position. Loose connective tissue remains between the densification zones, and it is here where surgery can be performed practically without causing any trauma.