Femoral triangle
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View Henry Knipe's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Yoshi Yu had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Yoshi Yu's current disclosures- Radiologic femoral triangle
The femoral triangle is an anatomical space in the anterior upper thigh that contains several palpable structures.
Gross anatomy
Boundaries
The major boundaries can be recalled with the mnemonic SAIL 1,2:
lateral border: medial border of sartorius
medial border: medial border of adductor longus
superior border: inguinal ligament
roof: skin, subcutaneous tissue, a continuation of Scarpa's fascia, great saphenous vein (joins the femoral vein), superficial lymph nodes, fascia lata
Contents
From lateral to medial 1:
-
femoral sheath (thickening of the deep fascia of the thigh) which has three compartments (from lateral to medial):
femoral artery and its branches (within the lateral compartment of the femoral sheath) and the femoral branch of the genitofemoral nerve
femoral vein (within the intermediate compartment of the femoral sheath) and deep lymph nodes
femoral canal (the medial compartment of the femoral sheath) which contains fat and lymph nodes (of Cloquet)
The basic order can be recalled with the mnemonics seen here.
Radiographic features
CT
The femoral triangle is best seen on coronal reformats but because of its curved nature around the anterior thigh it cannot always be fully seen. Cherian and Parnell 2 have proposed a radiologic femoral triangle (as opposed to the above described anatomic femoral triangle) with the following boundaries:
laterally: femoral vein
medially: pectineus muscle
superiorly: inguinal ligament
Cherian and Parnell state that the importance of the radiologic femoral triangle is that it is a site for femoral hernias identifiable on MDCT and acts as a surrogate site for the femoral canal 2.
References
- 1. Shadbolt CL, Heinze SB, Dietrich RB. Imaging of groin masses: inguinal anatomy and pathologic conditions revisited. Radiographics. 2001;21 Spec No: S261-71. Pubmed citation
- 2. Cherian PT, Parnell AP. Radiologic anatomy of the inguinofemoral region: insights from MDCT. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2007;189 (4): W177-83. doi:10.2214/AJR.07.2489 - Pubmed citation
- 3. McMINN. Lasts Anatomy Regional and Applied. CHURCHILL LIVINGSTONE. (2003) ISBN:B0084AQDG8. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 4. Eizenberg, Ahern G. General anatomy. McGraw-Hill Medical. ISBN:0070134677. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
Incoming Links
- Fascia lata
- Femoral canal
- Sartorius muscle
- Genitofemoral nerve
- Femoral vein
- Femoral sheath
- Iliopsoas muscle
- Psoas major muscle
- Great saphenous vein
- Femoral triangle contents (mnemonic)
- Adductor canal
- Femoral triangle boundaries (mnemonic)
- Ectopic testis
- Saphenous nerve
- Adductor longus muscle
- Femoral nerve
- Profunda femoris artery
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