Lymphatics of the Lower Limbs

00:01 In this lecture, we're going to look at the cutaneous innervation venous drainage and the lymphatics of the lower limb.

00:09 So let's start off by looking at the lymphatics.

00:12 And very briefly, there's just a couple of groups that you really should be familiar with.

00:17 These are the superficial inguinal lymph nodes.

00:21 These are associated really with the inguinal ligament that lies superficially on the junction between the lower limb and the abdomen.

00:31 These really are around about 10 in number and they follow the course of the inguinal ligament.

00:37 We also have a series of deep inguinal lymph nodes, and there's usually around three of these and they run medial to the femoral vein and we'll see the position of the femoral vein in a little bit more detail.

00:47 But these can be quite large and quite substantial.

00:49 And they're receiving a lot of the lymph that's coming from the deep structures of the lower limb.

00:55 We also have another series of deep lymph nodes and these are really known as the popliteal lymph nodes.

01:01 They drain both deep and superficial aspects, but they're located quite deep within the popliteal fossa.

01:07 And again, you can dig these out if you're exploring that region.