The subsartorial plexus is a

plexus In neuroanatomy, a plexus (from the Latin term for "braid") is a branching network of vessels or nerves. The vessels may be blood vessels (veins, capillaries) or lymphatic vessels. The nerves are typically axons outside the central nervous syste ...

of nerves that is located under the

sartorius muscle The sartorius muscle () is the longest muscle in the human body. It is a long, thin, superficial muscle that runs down the length of the thigh in the Anterior compartment of thigh, anterior compartment. Structure The sartorius muscle originates f ...

Structure

The subsartorial plexus is formed by: # the medial cutaneous nerve of the thigh (a branch of the

femoral nerve The femoral nerve is a nerve in the thigh that supplies skin on the upper thigh and inner leg, and the muscles that extend the knee. Structure The femoral nerve is the major nerve supplying the anterior compartment of the thigh. It is the largest ...

).{{Citation, last=Gardner, first=ERNEST D., title=Chapter 2 - Gross Anatomy of the Peripheral Nervous System, date=2005-01-01, url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780721694917500053, work=Peripheral Neuropathy (Fourth Edition), pages=11–33, editor-last=Dyck, editor-first=Peter J., place=Philadelphia, publisher=W.B. Saunders, language=en, doi=10.1016/b978-0-7216-9491-7.50005-3, isbn=978-0-7216-9491-7, access-date=2021-02-23, last2=Bunge, first2=RICHARD P., editor2-last=Thomas, editor2-first=P. K. # the

saphenous nerve The saphenous nerve (long or internal saphenous nerve) is the largest cutaneous branch Cutaneous innervation refers to the area of the skin which is supplied by a specific cutaneous nerve. Dermatome (Anatomy), Dermatomes are similar; however, a ...

(a branch from femoral nerve). # the cutaneous branch of anterior division of the obturator nerve. At the lower border of the

adductor brevis muscle The adductor brevis is a muscle in the thigh situated immediately deep to the pectineus and adductor longus. It belongs to the adductor muscle group. The main function of the adductor brevis is to pull the thigh medially. The adductor brevis ...

, the cutaneous branch of anterior division of the obturator nerve communicates with the anterior (medial), cutaneous and saphenous branches of the femoral nerve, forming a kind of plexus. It then descends upon the

femoral artery The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh and the main arterial supply to the thigh and leg. The femoral artery gives off the deep femoral artery or profunda femoris artery and descends along the anteromedial part of the thigh in the fem ...

, to which it is finally distributed.

Variation

Occasionally, the communicating branch to the anterior (medial), cutaneous and saphenous branches of the femoral is continued down, as a cutaneous branch, to the thigh and leg. When this is so, it emerges from beneath the lower border of the

adductor longus muscle In the human body, the adductor longus is a skeletal muscle located in the thigh. One of the adductor muscles of the hip, its main function is to adduct the thigh and it is innervated by the obturator nerve. It forms the medial wall of the ...

, descends along the posterior margin of the sartorius muscle to the medial side of the knee, where it pierces the

deep fascia Deep fascia (or investing fascia) is a fascia, a layer of dense connective tissue that can surround individual muscles and groups of muscles to separate into fascial compartments. This fibrous connective tissue interpenetrates and surrounds the m ...

, communicates with the saphenous nerve, and is distributed to the skin of the tibial side of the leg as low down as its middle.

References

* Henry Gray (1821–1865). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918. IX. Neurology. 6d Nerve plexus Nerves