FEMALE ANATOMY: THE OVARIES

Date: Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 am

There are two little egg-shaped organs beside the uterus, near the wide ends of the fallopian tubes. These are the ovaries. They are usually about 2 to 4 centimetres in length and are attached to the uterus and to the wall of the pelvis by ligaments.

Their job is to make hormones and produce eggs. They do this from around the time of the first menstrual period (menarche) to the last (menopause). The major hormones produced are oestrogen and progesterone.

The ovaries contain hundreds of thousands of potential little follicles. These respond to the hormonal signals to ripen and mature, and each month or so one follicle will dominate, and release an egg. Usually a woman has two ovaries, and they will take it in turns to produce the dominant follicle. If one ovary is missing, the remaining ovary will produce an egg every cycle.

The follicle containing the ripening egg is a cyst, or fluid-filled sac. Sometimes other cysts will form on the ovary. They often cause no symptoms, but can sometimes become enormous (like as big as a full-term pregnancy). Occasionally the ovary can develop cancerous growths.