Anatomy study note · Perineum

Penis

The male copulatory organ, with a fixed root in the superficial perineal pouch and a free body. It contains three cylinders of erectile tissue and carries the penile urethra.

Key points

• 2 corpora cavernosa + 1 corpus spongiosum (urethra, glans).
• Bulb + crura = root (bulbospongiosus, ischiocavernosus).
• Erection = parasympathetic (S2–4); ejaculation = sympathetic (L1–2).
• Deep dorsal vein → prostatic plexus.
• Erectile tissue lymph → internal iliac; skin → superficial inguinal.
• Genital tubercle → penis; urethral folds fuse → penile urethra.
• Hypospadias, epispadias.
• 2 corpora cavernosa + 1 corpus spongiosum (urethra).

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Blood supply · Nerve supply · Lymph drainage · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 10, PDF pp. 1199–1203, 1206–1208, 1225
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 16, PDF pp. 296–299
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 20, PDF p. 373

More from the perineum

• Pudendal nerve
• Superficial transverse perineal muscle
• Dorsal vessels of the penis
• External anal sphincter
• Male urethra

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