Clinical case Anatomy of the Femoral Triangle.
B.L., a 65-year-old woman, submitted to cardiac catheterization in order to measure the
pressures in the chambers of her heart. A catheter was inserted in her right femoral vein
in the femoral triangle and floated through the iliac veins and the inferior vena cava to
the right heart, where diagnostic procedures were performed without incident. Four hours
after completion of the procedure, however, B.L. began to complain of a painful
throbbing in her right groin. Over the course of the next hour, the pain worsened and she
began to experience numbness and tingling in her right anteromedial thigh and leg. On
examination, her right leg felt cool and a mass was observed in the right groin. No distal
pulses could be felt in the leg. B.L. was immediately taken up to surgery for exploration
of the groin region.
1. Draw a diagram of the femoral triangle. Label muscles or structures that form the
a. the boundaries of the triangle
b. floor of the triangle
2. In your drawing include the contents of the femoral triangle. (from lateral to
medial) Be sure to identify structures (muscles, nerves, blood vessels, bones etc.)
3. What do you think caused the mass in the patient's groin?
4. How would you explain the numbness and absence of distal pulses?
5. Draw a cross sectional view of the thigh, label it and then indicate where the
femoral triangle would be in the cross section. You can print off a copy of the
cross sectional view of the thigh. Use a color pencil and trace where the femoral
triangle is in the cross section. Be sure to label the drawing with anterior,
posterior, lateral and medial for reference. Label the triangle.