Pudendal Nerve Identified on Sectioned Images of Female Cadaveric Pelvis.

OBJECTIVES To provide an anatomical atlas made of serially sectioned images of a female cadaver that clearly demonstrated the pudendal nerve. METERIALS AND METHODS The courses of the pudendal nerve, internal pudendal artery, and internal pudendal vein were observed on the sectioned images of a female cadaver. The spatial relationship between the nerve and blood vessels was interpreted. RESULTS Traces of the structures on the sectioned images showed that the sources of the sciatic and pudendal nerves were the 4th lumbar nerve to the 2nd sacral nerve and the 2nd to the 4th sacral nerves, respectively. As the borderline, the 2nd sacral nerve showed a remarkable variation. The pudendal nerve gave off the internal rectal nerve proximal to the pudendal canal and it gave off the muscular branch to the urogenital triangle in the pudendal canal. It divided into the posterior labial nerve and the dorsal nerve of clitoris distal to the pudendal canal. Inside the pudendal canal, the internal pudendal vein, internal pudendal artery, and pudendal nerve were arranged from superomedial to inferolateral order. In other words, the pudendal nerve was the farthest from the uterus. CONCLUSION The sorted sectioned images with labels, accompanied by the schematic drawings, could serve as references for interpreting clinical images and conducting procedures related to pudendal nerve conditions.