Greater sciatic foramen
| Greater sciatic foramen | |
|---|---|
 The pelvis showing the greater sciatic foramen in red. | |
| Details | |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | foramen ischiadicum majus |
| TA | A03.6.03.008 |
| FMA | 17031 |
The greater sciatic foramen is an opening (foramen) at the back of the human pelvis. It is formed by the sacrotuberous and sacrospinous ligaments. The piriformis muscle passes through the foramen and occupies most of its volume. The greater sciatic foramen is wider in women than in men.
Structure
It is bounded as follows:
- anterolaterally by the greater sciatic notch of the ilium
- posteromedially by the sacrotuberous ligament
- inferiorly by the sacrospinous ligament and the ischial spine
- superiorly by the anterior sacroilliac ligament
Function
The piriformis, which exits the pelvis through the foramen, occupies most of its volume.
The following structures also exit the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen:
| Location | Name | Vessels | Nerves |
| Above the Piriformis | suprapiriform foramen[1] | superior gluteal vessels | superior gluteal nerve |
| Below the Piriformis | infrapiriform foramen[1] | inferior gluteal vessels internal pudendal vessels | inferior gluteal nerve pudendal nerve sciatic nerve posterior femoral cutaneous nerve Nerve to obturator internus Nerve to quadratus femoris |
The foramen contains:[2]
- 7 nerves:
- Sciatic Nerve:
- Superior Gluteal Nerve:
- Inferior Gluteal Nerve:
- Pudendal Nerve:
- Posterior Femoral Cutaneous Nerve
- Nerve to Quadratus Femoris
- Nerve to Obturator Internus
- 3 Vessel Sets:
- Superior Gluteal Artery & Vein
- Inferior Gluteal Artery & vein
- Internal Pudendal Artery & vein
- 1 Muscle:
- Piriformis
See also
This article uses anatomical terminology; for an overview, see Anatomical terminology.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greater sciatic foramen. |
References
This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)
- 1 2 Yokochi, Chihiro; Rohen, Johannes W. Color Atlas of Anatomy: A Photographic Study of the Human Body. Hagerstown, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 482. ISBN 0-7817-9013-1.
- ↑ http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/greater_sciatic_foramen
External links
- Anatomy photo:41:os-0109 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center
- Greater_sciatic_foramen at the Duke University Health System's Orthopedics program
- glutealregion at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (glutealart, glutealner)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.