Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh

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Nerve: Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh

Plan of lumbar plexus. (Lateral femoral cutaneous visible at left.)

Cutaneous nerves of right lower extremity. Front view.
Latin	nervus cutaneus femoralis lateralis
Gray's	subject #212 953
Innervates
From	lumbar plexus (L2–L3)
To
MeSH	{{{MeshNumber}}}

The lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh (also called the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve) is a cutaneous nerve that innervates the skin on the lateral part of the thigh.

Structure[]

The lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh is a nerve of the lumbar plexus. It arises from the dorsal divisions of the second and third lumbar nerves. It emerges from the lateral border of the psoas major at about its middle, and crosses the iliacus muscle obliquely, toward the anterior superior iliac spine. It then passes under the inguinal ligament and over the sartorius muscle into the thigh, where it divides into an anterior and a posterior branch.

The anterior branch becomes superficial about 10 cm below the inguinal ligament, and divides into branches which are distributed to the skin of the anterior and lateral parts of the thigh, as far as the knee. The terminal filaments of this nerve frequently communicate with the anterior cutaneous branches of the femoral nerve, and with the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve, forming with them the patellar plexus.

The posterior branch pierces the fascia lata, and subdivides into filaments which pass backward across the lateral and posterior surfaces of the thigh, supplying the skin from the level of the greater trochanter to the middle of the thigh.

Additional images[]

External links[]

Duke Orthopedics lateral_femoral_cutaneous_nerve
Dictionary at eMedicine Lateral+cutaneous+nerve+of+thigh
SUNY Labs 40:17-0201 - "Posterior Abdominal Wall: Nerves of the Lumbar Plexus"
Memorial University of Newfoundland - Anatomy at MUN nerve/lumbnerv
Norman/Georgetown posteriorabdomen (posteriorabdmus&nerves)

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

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Nerves of lower limbs and lower torso: the lumbosacral plexus

lumbar plexus: iliohypogastric - ilioinguinal - genitofemoral (femoral branch/lumboinguinal, genital branch) - lateral cutaneous of thigh (patellar) - obturator (anterior, cutaneous, posterior, accessory) - femoral (anterior cutaneous branches, saphenous)