The Adductor Canal

Main Anatomy Index

The Adductor Canal (p. 407)

• The adductor canal (subsartorial canal or Hunter's canal) is about 15 cm in length and is a narrow, fascial tunnel in the thigh.
• It is located deep to the middle third of the sartorius muscle, it provides an intermuscular passage through which the femoral vessels pass to reach the popliteal fossa, where they become popliteal vessels.

• The adductor canal begins about 15 cm inferior to the inguinal ligament, where the sartorius muscle crosses over the adductor longus muscle.
• It ends at the adductor hiatus in the tendon of the adductor magnus muscle.

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Boundaries of the Adductor Canal

• Laterally: vastus medialis muscle
• Posteromedially: adductor longus and adductor magnus muscles
• Anteriorly: sartorius muscle

• The sartorius and the subsartorial fascia form the roof of the adductor canal.
• About the middle third of the thigh, a subsartorial plexus of nerves lies on this fascia. It supplies the overlying skin.

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Contents of the Adductor Canal

• The femoral vessels enter the adductor canal where the sartorius muscle crosses over the adductor longus muscle, the vein lying posterior to the artery.
• The femoral artery and femoral vein leave the adductor canal through the tendinous opening in the adductor magnus muscle, known as the adductor hiatus.
• As soon as the femoral vessels enter the popliteal fossa, they are called the popliteal vessels.

• The profunda femoris artery and vein do not enter the adductor canal.
• The perforating branches of these deep vessels pierce the fibres of the adductor muscles to reach the posterior aspect of the thigh.

• The saphenous nerve, a cutaneous branch of the femoral nerve, accompanies the femoral artery through the adductor canal.
• It enters the adductor canal lateral to the artery, crosses it anteriorly, and lies medial to it at the distal end of the canal.
• The saphenous nerve does not leave the adductor canal via the adductor hiatus.
• It passes between the sartorius and gracilis muscles, pierces the deep fascia on the medial aspect of the knee, and passes down the medial side of the leg with the great saphenous vein.

• The nerve to the vastus medialis muscle accompanies the femoral artery through the proximal part of the adductor canal and then divides into the branches that supply this muscle and the knee joint.

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