Pouch, rectovaginal

An extension of the peritoneal cavity between the rectum and back wall of the uterus.

The term 'cul-de-sac,' aside from being any 'blind pouch or cavity that is closed at one end,' is used specifically to refer to the rectouterine pouch.

From that fact comes: > >Culdoscopy, the introduction of an endoscope through the vagina into the cul-de-sac; >Culdoscope, the viewing tube (endoscope) that is used to look into the cul-de-sac; and >Culdocentesis, the aspiration (withdrawal) of fluid from the cul-de-sac.</LI></UL> In French, 'cul-de-sac' literally is 'bottom of (a) sack.' As early as the 13th century, a cul-de-sac was a dead-end street (or a dead-end way), a blind alley.

(The third letter in 'cul' is silent in French; in English it is spoken.

So, in French 'cul' is pronounced 'ku' and in English 'kul').

The rectouterine pouch is also known as excavatio recto-uterina (literally, the rectouterine excavation) and the pouch of Douglas, after the Scottish anatomist James Douglas (1675-1742) who explored this region of the female body and left his name attached to at least 3 other structural features of the area.