culdoscope

{{Short description|Medical instrument}}

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| name = Culdoscope

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| purpose = visualize female pelvic organs

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Culdoscope is an instrument, a kind of endoscope, used to visualize female pelvic organs, introduced through the vagina into the cul-de-sac (which is also called the rectouterine pouch or the pouch of Douglas).{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/culdoscope-2 |title=culdoscope: Definition from Answers.com |website=Answers.com |format= |accessdate=}}{{cite web |url=http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8498 |title=Culdoscope definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms |format= |accessdate=}}{{cite web |url=http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/culdoscopy |title=culdoscopy - definition of culdoscopy in the Medical dictionary - by the Free Online Medical Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. |format= |accessdate=}} The procedure of inserting the culdoscope into the rectouterine pouch is termed culdoscopy.

The word culdoscope (and culdoscopy) is derived from the phrase cul-de-sac, which in French literally means "bottom of a sac", here referring to a blind pouch or cavity in the female body that is closed at one end, that is the rectouterine pouch. As early as the 13th century, a cul-de-sac was a dead-end street (or a dead-end way), a blind alley.