Autopsical observations on the blood vessels in the human lower limb

The heterolateral femoral triangles (Scarpa's triangles, trigona femoralis) have been examined in 48 dead adult subjects of Trieste to detect relevant macroanatomical variations, performing the autopsical method. Interesting differences have been found in the topography of blood vessels, above all the arteries, from that described as normal, or better, more frequent, in the literature. The three most relevant anatomical variations for both arteries and veins are described in detail; summarizing tables and related graphics are presented for the globality of the examined cases. The percentage ratio of the observed topographic variations appears to be remarkably different when compared to their European frequency and this may be due to the exiguous number of te cases (48 subjects, that is, 96 femoral triangles) examined by us; however, the three most relevant findings have not been reported in the literature yet. Therefore, it is also reasonable to assume that the variations described in this study, either for their peculiarity or their relevant frequence, may be explained by particular functional hemodynamic needs in the examined population of Trieste, as well as by vascular developmental reasons.