Anatomy of the valves of human ovarian veins

ABSTRACT

In this study, we used mesoscopy to examine the ovarian veins of 30 female corpses for the presence of valves and cusps. One hundred and thirty-one valves were observed in the ovarian veins examined. Most of the valves (91/131 valves or 69.4 per cent) occurred in the distal third of the vein, followed by 27/131 valves (20.6 per cent) in the middle third and, 13/131 valves (10.0 per cent) in the proximal third. The valves consisted of one to five cusps, with most being biscuspid (121/131 or 92.4 per cent) most bicuspid valves (88/121 valves or 72.7 per cent) occurred in the distal third, 24/121 (19.8 per cent) occurred in the middle third and 9/121 (7.4 per cent) were found in the proximal third. Six tricuspid valve (0.8 per cent) was found in a distal third, whereas three unicuspid valves (2.3 per cent) occurred in the middle third (two cases) and proximal third (one case). These observations confirmed the existence of valves in ovarian veins and suggest that pelvic varicocele may develop when the valves become incompetent, and this may lead the patient to suffer pelvic pain.