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Round ligament of uterus: anatomy, location and function

The round ligament is a fibromuscular cord from the uterus to the labium majus. It helps hold the uterus anteverted, although it gives little support.

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Highlighted in the model: Round ligament of uterus. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The female body shares the male skeleton, muscles and organs except its pelvis, reproductive organs, breasts, bladder, urethra and skin.

Round ligament of uterus at a glance

What it is
The round ligament is a fibromuscular cord from the uterus to the labium majus.
Location
It leaves the uterine horn just below the tube, runs in the broad ligament to the deep inguinal ring, passes through the inguinal canal and ends in the labium majus.
Function
It helps hold the uterus anteverted, although it gives little support.
Body system
Reproductive · paired (left and right) · female body
FMA ID
FMA57790 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is about 10–12 cm long.
  • With the ovarian ligament it is a remnant of the gubernaculum, the cord that guides the testis in males.

Clinical relevance

Stretching of the round ligaments causes sharp groin pain in pregnancy. Its course through the inguinal canal means women can have indirect inguinal hernias.

Structures next to the round ligament of uterus

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Round ligament of uterus (FMA57790). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §27.2 Anatomy and Physiology of the Ovarian Reproductive System. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
  4. Browne K., Schlehlein H. 3D Reference Organ Set for United, Female (Visible Human Female). Human Reference Atlas 3D Reference Object Library, HuBMAP / NIH. Data from the NLM Visible Human Project. CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.