Letter R

Rectouterine pouch

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>Culdoscopy, the introduction of an endoscope through the vagina into the cul-de-sac; >Culdoscope, the 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 in the area.

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