bicornuate uterus
A bicornuate uterus has two cavities. This can appear as:
- a single uterine body, with a subtle central indentation that creates a vaguely heart-shaped chamber, or
- a central wall that nearly separates the uterus into two parts, or
- two large chambers, "uterine horns", that extend towards the oviducts; the uterine body may be small or barely-existent.
A bicornuate uterus has a single cervix. An anatomy with two cervical canals to the vagina is considered duplex uteri (i.e. 2_uteruses). In veterinary medicine, nearly-separate partitioned uteri were also formerly considered to be two "bipartite uteri", but this appears to have fallen out of favor.
Most real-world female mammals have some kind of bicornuate uterus. To be anatomically correct:
- a heart-shaped uterine body, with little to no uterine horns, is found in horses.
- moderate to large uterine horns that extend from the uterine body, with a small partition, are found in cows, sheep, and goats.
- most litter-bearing animals have large and long uterine horns which merge just prior to the cervix, such as for pigs, dogs, and cats.
(WikiVet, images and diagrams 1, 2, 3, 4 )
In humans, the term is used to describe an unusual medical condition of similar appearance.
This tag is intended to capture anatomical structure. If artistic liberty has been taken to give a uterus the shape of a heart symbol, in a cartoonish or pictographic way, consider heart shaped uterus instead. Sometimes, both tags can be applicable, as with fantasy realism.