Dissection of female pelvis from a lateral approach

Interior of left side of pelvic cavity; parietal blood vessels; sacral plexus; pelvic diaphragm

Stanford holds the copyright to the David L. Bassett anatomical images and has assigned Creative Commons license Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International to all of the images.
For additional information regarding use and permissions, please contact the Medical History Center.

Image #163-4

Dissection of female pelvis from a lateral approach

Interior of left side of pelvic cavity; parietal blood vessels; sacral plexus; pelvic diaphragm

The pelvic organs have been cut across at the pelvic outlet and have been removed to expose the pelvic diaphragm and the major blood vessels and nerves of the lateral wall of the pelvic cavity.

1. Middle sacral artery
2. Sympathetic trunk
3. Right pointer: Ganglion of sympathetic trunk (note ramus communicans) Left pointer: Sacral nerve
4. Articular surface of sacrum
5. Left piriform muscle
6. Sacral nerve II (note ramus communicans from sympathetic trunk)
7. Sacral nerve III
8. Sacral nerve IV
9. Internal pudendal artery and vein
10. Coccyx
11. Upper pointer: Inferior gluteal artery Lower pointer: Pelvic diaphragm
12. Anal canal
13. Vagina
14. Urethra
15. Labium minus
16. Glans of clitoris
17. Lateral sacral artery
18. Common iliac artery
19. Left pointer: Internal iliac artery Right pointer: External iliac artery
20. Transversus abdominis muscle (covered by transversalis fascia)
21. Superior gluteal artery
22. Uterine artery (cut off)
23. Branch of obturator artery to iliopsoas muscle
24. Anterior superior iliac spine
25. Obturator nerve (at entrance to obturator canal)
26. Pubic symphysis