In human anatomy, the adductor hiatus also known as hiatus magnus is a hiatus (gap) between the

adductor magnus The adductor magnus is a large triangular muscle, situated on the medial side of the thigh. It consists of two parts. The portion which arises from the ischiopubic ramus (a small part of the inferior ramus of the pubis, and the inferior ramu ...

muscle and the

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

that allows the passage of the femoral vessels from the anterior thigh to the posterior thigh and then the

popliteal fossa The popliteal fossa (also referred to as hough or kneepit in analogy to the cubital fossa) is a shallow depression located at the back of the knee joint. The bones of the popliteal fossa are the femur and the tibia. Like other flexion surfaces ...

. It is the termination of the adductor canal and lies about superior to the adductor tubercle.

Structure

Kale et al. classified the adductor hiatus according to its shape and the structures surrounding. An adductor hiatus is described as oval or bridging depending on the shape of the upper boundary. It can also be described as

muscular MUSCULAR (DS-200B), located in the United Kingdom, is the name of a surveillance program jointly operated by Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) that was revealed by documents release ...

or fibrous depending on whether the structure surrounding is the muscular part or the tendinous part of the adductor magnus muscle. For example, the top drawing on the right shows an oval fibrous type of adductor hiatus, and the bottom one shows a bridging muscular adductor hiatus. Four structures are associated with the adductor hiatus. However, only two structures enter and then leave through the hiatus; namely 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 and descends along the anteromedial part of the thigh in the femoral triangle. It enters ...

and

femoral vein In the human body, the femoral vein is the vein that accompanies the femoral artery in the femoral sheath. It is a deep vein that begins at the adductor hiatus (an opening in the adductor magnus muscle) as the continuation of the popliteal v ...

. Those vessels become the popliteal vessels ( popliteal artery and popliteal vein) immediately after they leave the hiatus, where they form a network of

anastomoses An anastomosis (, : anastomoses) is a connection or opening between two things (especially cavities or passages) that are normally diverging or branching, such as between blood vessels, leaf#Veins, leaf veins, or streams. Such a connection may be ...

called the genicular arteries. The genicular arteries supply the knee joint. The other two structures that are associated with the adductor hiatus are the descending genicular artery and the saphenous nerve. The saphenous nerve does not leave through the adductor hiatus but penetrates superficially halfway through the adductor canal.

Clinical significance

Fracture of distal femur

Fracture Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

at the supracondylar area of femur, where the adductor part of the adductor magnus attaches, will most likely cause damage to the femoral artery and may cause impairment of the blood supply to the lower leg. Popliteal artery can also be damaged by the fracture of distal femur.

Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome

Abnormality in the relationship between the adductor hiatus and the popliteal artery can also contribute to a condition called popliteal artery entrapment syndrome.

Additional images

File:Thigh arteries schema.svg, Schema of the arteries arising from the external iliac and femoral arteries. File:Adductor magnus.gif, Adductor hiatus is seen as hole in the adductor magnus.

References

{{Authority control Human anatomy