The difference between a uterus bicornis bicollis and a uterus didelphys

Cowboyboot recently asked me what the differnce is between a bicornuate bicollis uterus and a uterus didelphys, so I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to trying to explain.

I shall try and put a couple of links on as I am not a medical expert, but there can be variations in both I think, and sometimes some medical people seem to consider the bicornuate bicollis as a varient of a uterus didelphy, while other seem to just consider it a variation of a bicornuate unicollis (which I sort of disagree with)

I guess I should try and start with the basics for those just starting on this trip. These irregular uterus shapes occur when you yourself are in utero, when the body is developing at something like 6 weeks I believe. The uterus is made from two seperate parts which normally fuse together to make one normal uterus, however for whatever reason this sometimes doesn't happen and only partial fusion or no fusion takes part, resulting in several different types of dodgy uterus, or mullerian anomalies as they should actually be know. It's just one of those things some people are born with. I'll put this picture in again just as I find it a really clear picture of the different types


If you have recently been told you have some form of mullerian anomally, whether a bicornuate, unicornuate, septate, didelphic, or any other form of dogy uterus the first two places I'll send you to check out are this blog and this yahoo group. They should give you lots of info about the differences and pushing for a correct diagnosis, there are loads of links on there and lots of answers to FAQ too.

Right the difference between uterus bicornis bicollis and a uterus didelphys, which is what I was getting at in a very round about way. They both have two seperate uterus and two cervix. I think first and easiest way to show the difference is with these pictures taken from here

The main difference is that UD is more independant and unattached then the BBU. Although both have two separate uterine cavaties, the walls of the BBU are still slightly joined together, but not just by a thin septate but rather by a thick uterus wall. In a UD these are completely separate, the two uterus cavaties are not partially joined. Another difference, although not a defining one as it can occur in both, is that a duplicated vagina is much more likely in a UD.

I'll throw in another link here for a bit about the differences, and then I will leave it there for now. Hopefully that has been useful to someone out there!