, 



THE FEMOEAL ARTEKY. 947 



Course. Its general direction is indicated by a line drawn from the point of 

 origin, midway between the anterior superior spine of the ilium and the symphysis 

 pubis, to the adductor tubercle, the thigh being flexed, abducted, and rotated laterally. 



In its proximal half the femoral artery lies in the femoral trigone (O.T. Scarpa's 

 triangle), and is comparatively superficial; at the apex of the trigone it passes 

 deep to the sartorius, enters the adductor canal (Hunter's), and is thus more 

 deeply placed. 



At their entry into the femoral trigone both the artery and its vein are 

 enclosed, for a distance of 31 mm. (one and a quarter inches), in a funnel-shaped 

 fascial sheath formed of the fascia transversalis anteriorly and the fascia iliaca 

 posteriorly. This is called the femoral sheath ; it is- divided, by antero-posterior 

 septa, into three compartments, of which the lateral is occupied by the femoral 

 artery and lumbo-inguinal branch of the genito-femoral nerve; the intermediate 

 compartment contains the femoral vein ; and the medial compartment constitutes 

 the femoral canal. 



Relations. Anterior. In the femoral trigone the femoral artery is covered super- 

 ficially by skin and fasciae, by superficial sub-inguinal lymph glands and small superficial 

 vessels. The anterior part of the femoral sheath and the fascia cribrosa are in front 

 of the proximal part of the artery, and the fascia lata is in front of the distal part. Near 

 the apex of the triangle the artery is crossed by the medial cutaneous nerve, and not 

 infrequently by a tributary of the great saphenous vein. Posterior. It is in relation, 

 posteriorly, proximo-distally, with the posterior part of the femoral sheath, the pubic or 

 pectineal portion of the fascia lata and the psoas major, the pectineus, and the proximal 

 part of the adductor longus muscles. The nerve to the pectineus passes between the 

 artery and the psoas major ; the femoral vein and the profunda artery and vein intervene 

 between it and the pectineus, and the femoral vein also separates it from the adductor 

 longus. 



The femoral vein, which lies on a plane posterior to the artery in the lower part of 

 the femoral trigone, passes to its medial side above, where it is separated from the artery 

 by the lateral septum of the femoral sheath. On the lateral side of the artery is the 

 femoral nerve (O.T. anterior crural) proximally ; more distally the saphenous nerve and 

 the nerve to the vastus medialis are continued on the lateral side. The lumbo-inguinal 

 branch of the genito-femoral nerve is anterior and to the lateral side, proximally, as it 

 runs for a short distance in the femoral sheath. 



In the adductor canal the artery has posterior to it the adductor longus and the 

 adductor magnus, whilst anterior and to the lateral side is the vastus medialis. The 

 femoral vein is also posterior to the artery, but lies to its lateral side distally and to 

 its medial side proximally. Anterior to the artery is the fascial roof of the canal, with 

 the obturator or sub-sartorial plexus of nerves and the sartorius muscle. The saphenous 

 nerve enters the adductor canal with the artery, and runs first on its lateral side, then 

 anterior, and lastly on its medial side. 



Branches. The femoral artery gives off the following branches : 



(1) Superficial branches. 



(a) The superficial circumflex iliac. P fc/v^^ju,./ .'/x/, 



(b) The superficial epigastric. AtcUt^x^ 



(c) The superficial external pudenda!. 



(2) Muscular. ^^ ^ 



(3) The deep external pudendal^^A^wv^ avA/v^k^ 



(4) The profunda. 



(5) The arteria genu suprema. 



(a) Arteria Circumflexa Ilium Superficialis. The superficial circumflex iliac 



springs from the front of the femoral artery, just below the inguinal ligament. 



.t pierces the femoral sheath and the fascia lata, lateral to the fossa ovalis (O.T. 



saphenous opening), and runs, in the superficial fascia, as far as the anterior 



superior spine of the ilium. It supplies the lateral set of sub-inguinal glands and the 



kin of the groin, and it sends branches, through the fascia lata, which anastomose 



ith branches of the deep circumflex iliac artery, and supply the upper parts 



of the sartorius and tensor fasciae latse muscles. 



) Arteria Epigastrica Superficialis. The superficial epigastric artery arises 

 near the preceding. It pierces the femoral sheath and the fascia cribrosa, 



