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Femoral canal
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The femoral canal (canalis femoralis) 1-3 cm long has three walls. The lateral wall of the canal is formed by the femoral vein, the anterior wall with a crescent-shaped margin and the superior horn of the wide fascia (femur). The median posterior wall of the canal is formed by a deep leaf of the broad fascia, covering the crestial muscle in this place. The subcutaneous ring (anulus saphenus) of the femoral canal is bounded from the lateral side by a crescent-shaped edge and closed by a thin trellised fascia (fascia cribrosa). At the deep femoral ring, in which there is normally a small amount of loose fiber and the lymph node of Pirogov-Rosenmuller, four walls are distinguished. The anterior wall of the deep ring is the inguinal ligament, the lateral - the femoral vein, the medial lacunar ligament (lig.lacunare), the posterior - the ligamentous ligament (lig.peclinale), which is the periosteum reinforced by the fibrous fibers in the region of the pubic bone crest. The lacunar ligament is formed by connective tissue fibers that extend from the medial end of the inguinal ligament posteriorly and laterally along the edge of the upper branch of the pubic bone. These fibrous fibers round out the acute angle between the medial end of the inguinal ligament and the pubic bone.
On the front surface of the thigh are important topographic formations. This is primarily the femoral triangle, bounded by the long adductor muscle of the hip (medially), the sartorius muscle (laterally) and the inguinal ligament (above). Through this triangle, under the skin and under the superficial leaf of the broad fascia of the thigh is the iliac comb (sulcus iliopectineus), bounded from the lateral side by the ilio-lumbar muscle, and with the medial crest muscle. The femoral artery and the femoral vein abut this furrow. The furrow downwards continues into the femoral-popliteal, or leading (canter), canalis adductorius, through which the femoral artery, vein and subcutaneous nerve pass. The walls of the leading canal are the medial broad thigh muscle (laterally), the large adductor muscle (medially). The anterior wall of the leading channel is a fibrous plate stretched between these muscles (lamina vastoadductoria, BNA). In this plate there is a hole - a tendon slit (hiatus tendineus) through which the subcutaneous nerve and descending knee artery exit from the canal to the anterior-medial wall. The femoral artery and vein pass through the lower opening of the canal, formed by the tendon of the large adductor muscle and the posterior surface of the femur and opening into the popliteal fovea from above. Muscles on the thigh are covered with a broad fascia.
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