254 THE INFERIOR EXTREMITY 



bone, the vessel is apt to slip from under the fingers. It is much 

 safer to compress it against the hip bone. Distal to the head 

 of the femur, during the remainder of its course through the 

 femoral triangle, the artery is not in direct relation to the 

 bone. It crosses anterior to the angular interval between 

 the neck and body of the femur. Towards the apex of the 

 triangle, however, it comes into relation with the medial side 

 of the body of the femur, and that position it holds to its 

 termination. 



In the triangle the proximal part of the femoral artery is 

 enveloped by the femoral sheath, and is separated from the 

 surface by the skin, superficial fascia, and deep fascia ; whilst 

 more distally it is crossed by the medial cutaneous branch 

 (O.T. internal cutaneous) of the femoral nerve, which runs 

 along the medial border of the sartorius muscle. The extent 

 of the artery which lies in the femoral triangle varies with 

 the development of the sartorius muscle, but as a rule it 

 measures from 7.5 to 10 cm. At the apex of the triangle the 

 artery enters the adductor canal. 



In the adductor canal the artery lies more deeply, and is 

 separated from the surface not only by the skin, superficial 

 fascia and deep fascia, but also by the sartorius muscle, the 

 sub-sartorial plexus of nerves, and the fascial roof of the 

 canal, and, at the mid-length of the canal, the saphenous 

 nerve crosses the front of the artery from the lateral to the 

 medial side. 



Lateral to the artery, in the proximal part of the femoral 

 trigone, is the femoral nerve. The two are not, however, in 

 close contact, for the lateral part of the femoral sheath and 

 the projecting lateral border of the psoas major muscle 

 intervene between them. In the distal part of tjie triangle 

 the medial cutaneous nerve lies lateral to the artery, but it is 

 replaced, in the proximal half of the adductor canal, by the 

 saphenous nerve, and beyond the middle of the adductor 

 canal, where the saphenous nerve passes to the front of the 

 artery, the artery itself is in relation, on its lateral side, with 

 the vastus medialis muscle. 



In the proximal part of the femoral triangle the femoral 

 vein lies medial to the artery, separated from it by the lateral 

 septum of the femoral sheath. Beyond the femoral sheath 

 the vein passes behind the artery and no other structure 

 forms a direct medial relation till the distal part of the 



