The connective tissue of the adult female pelvic region. A musculo-fibrous apparatus.

From histologically stained transparent 0.7-0.8 cm thick serial sections of adult female pelves transparent glass-plate reconstructions of the connective tissue septa system were prepared. The analysis of these reconstructions revealed a bilateral symmetry and an interindividual uniformity of the connective tissue system and the adipose tissue components lying in between. The connective tissue system separating different functional compartments in the retroperitoneal space in order to envelop the muscles, the bones, the vessels and the viscera, forms a substaining system interwoven with the connective tissue elements of the musculus levator ani and perforating the muscle, and continues into the connective tissue system in the fossa ischiorectalis upto the fascia perinei superficialis is reached. The fasciae of the pelvic muscles, the sacro-tuberal and sacro-spinal ligaments and the ligaments of the uterus appear to be completely involved in this system of connective tissue septa. The connective tissue system links the pelvic viscera up to the muscular and bony parts of the locomotive systems of the trunk and the legs, giving a rise to a functional entity. The formulation of the hypothesis of this entity raised new questions about the structure of the different connective tissue septa in the female pelvic region.