Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.
pages 625
| passes down the front and medial side of the thigh. It ends at the junction of the middle with the lower third of the thigh, where it passes through an opening in the Adductor magnus to become the popliteal artery. The vessel, at the upper part of the thigh, lies in front of the hip-joint; in the lower part of its course it lies to the medial side of the body of the femur, and between these two parts, where it crosses the angle between the head and body, the vessel is some distance from the bone. The first 4 cm. of the vessel is enclosed, together with the femoral vein, in a fibrous sheath—the femoral sheath. In the upper third of the thigh the femoral artery is contained in the femoral triangle (Scarpa’s triangle), and in the middle third of the thigh, in the adductor canal (Hunter’s canal). |
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FIG. 547– The relations of the femoral and abdominal inguinal rings, seen from within the abdomen. Right side. (See enlarged image) |
| The femoral sheath (crural sheath) (Figs. 545, 546) is formed by a prolongation downward, behind the inguinal ligament, of the fasciæ which line the abdomen, the transversalis fascia being continued down in front of the femoral vessels and the iliac fascia behind them. The sheath assumes the form of a short funnel, the wide end of which is directed upward, while the lower, narrow end fuses with the fascial investment of the vessels, about 4 cm. below the inguinal ligament. It is strengthened in front by a band termed the deep crural arch (page 419). The lateral wall of the sheath is vertical and is perforated by the lumboinguinal nerve; the medial wall is directed obliquely downward and lateralward, and is pierced by the great saphenous vein and by some lymphatic vessels. The sheath is divided by two vertical partitions which stretch between its anterior and posterior walls. The lateral compartment contains the femoral artery, and the intermediate the femoral vein, while the medial and smallest compartment is named the femoral canal, and contains some lymphatic vessels and a lymph gland imbedded in a small amount of areolar tissue. The femoral canal is conical and measures about 1.25 cm. in length. Its base, directed upward and named the femoral ring, is oval in form, its long diameter being directed transversely and measuring about 1.25 cm. The femoral ring (Figs. 546, 547) is bounded in front by the inguinal ligament, behind by the Pectineus covered by the pectineal fascia, medially by the crescentic base of the lacunar ligament, and laterally by the fibrous septum on the medial side of the femoral vein. The spermatic cord in the male and the round ligament |