During an abdominal surgical procedure, the surgeon wishes to locate the ureter in order to ensure that it is not injured. The ureter may be found immediately anterior to the origin of the ?
The ureter leaves the renal pelvis and lies on the posterior abdominal wall as it descends to the pelvis. It crosses the pelvic brim at the level of the bifurcation of the common iliac aery. At this point it crosses anterior to the origin of the external iliac aery to enter the pelvis.The origin of the common iliac aery is at the bifurcation of the abdominal aoa, which occurs at the level of the fouh lumbar veebra in the midline of the abdomen. Both ureters are lateral to the aoic bifurcation.The origin of the internal iliac aery is at the bifurcation of the common iliac aery, which occurs at about the level of the first sacral veebra. The ureter and the internal iliac aery both enter the pelvis with the ureter on the lateral side of the aery.The origin of the gonadal aery (either the testicular aery or the ovarian aery) is from the abdominal aoa at a variable level, usually between the renal aery and the inferior mesenteric aery. The ureters are lateral to the origin of this aery. Ref: Moon D.A., Foreman K.B., Albeine K.H. (2011). Chapter 34. Overview of the Lower Limb. In D.A. Moon, K.B. Foreman, K.H. Albeine (Eds), The Big Picture: Gross Anatomy.
Common iliac aery
External iliac aery
Internal iliac aery
Gonadal aery