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Rectoprostatic fascia

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Rectoprostatic fascia
Rectoprostatic fascia
Details
Identifiers
Latinfascia rectoprostatica
TA98A04.5.03.004M
TA23831
FMA19933
Anatomical terminology

The rectoprostatic fascia (Denonvilliers' fascia) is a membranous partition at the lowest part of the rectovesical pouch. It separates the prostate and urinary bladder from the rectum.[1] It consists of a single fibromuscular structure with several layers that are fused together and covering the seminal vesicles. It is also called Denonvilliers' fascia after French anatomist and surgeon Charles-Pierre Denonvilliers.[2]

The structure corresponds to the rectovaginal fascia in the female. The rectoprostatic fascia also inhibits the posterior spread of prostatic adenocarcinoma; therefore invasion of the rectum is less common than is invasion of other contiguous structures.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Dorland's Medical Dictionary". Retrieved 2007-12-11.
  2. ^ Denonvilliers' fascia at Who Named It?