Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh

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 (L2-L3). 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 (ASIS). It then passes under the inguinal ligament, through the lacuna musculorum and then 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 peripatellar 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.

Entrapment is caused by compression of the nerve near the ASIS and inguinal ligament and is commonly known as Meralgia paraesthetica or Bernhardt-Roth syndrome.

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  Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh and other structures passing behind the inguinal ligament
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  The great saphenous vein and its tributaries at the fossa ovalis.
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  The lumbar plexus and its branches.
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  Deep and superficial dissection of the lumbar plexus.
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  Diagram of segmental distribution of the lateral cutaneous nerve (shaded) and other nerves of the right leg. Front view.
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  Cutaneous nerves of the right lower extremity. Front and posterior views.

• Cutaneous nerve
• Posterior cutaneous nerve of thigh
• Meralgia paraesthetica

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 953 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

• Lateral_femoral_cutaneous_nerve at the Duke University Health System's Orthopedics program
• Anatomy photo:40:17-0201 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Posterior Abdominal Wall: Nerves of the Lumbar Plexus"
• posteriorabdomen at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (posteriorabdmus&nerves)