Femoral canal ring, through which bowel can sometimes enter, causing a femoral hernia. Though femoral hernias are rare, their passage through the inflexible femoral ring puts them at particular risk of strangulation, giving them surgical priority. The position of the femoral canal medially to the femoral vein is of physiologic importance. The space of the canal allows for the expansion of the femoral vein when venous return from the lower limbs is increased or when increased intra-abdominal pressure (valsalva maneuver) causes a temporary stasis in the venous flow. Femoral canal In human anatomy of the leg, the femoral sheath has three compartments.
Superficial external pudendal artery to the inguinal ligament. Superficial external pudendal artery The superficial external pudendal artery (superficial external pudic artery) is one of the three pudendal arteries. It arises from the medial side of the femoral artery, close to the superficial epigastric artery and superficial iliac circumflex artery. After piercing the femoral sheath and fascia cribrosa, it courses medialward, across the spermatic cord (or round ligament in the female), to be distributed to the integument on the lower part of the abdomen, the penis and scrotum in the male, and the labium majus in the female, anastomosing with branches of the internal pudendal