The Uterus

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The uterus is a hollow, pear-shaped organ. It is located in a woman's lower abdomen between the bladder and the rectum. Attached to either side of the top of the uterus are the fallopian tubes, which extend from the uterus to the ovaries.

The narrow, lower portion of the uterus is the cervix; the broad, middle part is the corpus; and the dome-shaped upper portion is the fundus. The walls of the uterus are made of two layers of tissue: the inner layer or lining (endometrium) and the outer layer or muscle (myometrium).

In women of childbearing age, the lining of the uterus grows and thickens each month so that it will be ready if pregnancy occurs. If a woman does not become pregnant, the thickened tissue and blood flow out of the body through the vagina; this flow is called menstruation.