On the extensive contact between veins and arteries in the human ovarian pedicle

The human ovarian arteries and their anatomical relation to the utero-ovarian venous plexus were studied in surgical specimens using roentgen angiography and corrosion casts. The arteries were in close contact with the veins, had a tortuous shape and sometimes a helical folding of inner layers of the wall. The results obtained are similar to the findings in a number of animal species and may represent the morphological basis for a counter-current exchange mechanism.