Anatomy study note · Abdomen

Testicular vessels

The testicular artery arises from the abdominal aorta at L2 and descends on the posterior abdominal wall and through the inguinal canal. The veins leave the testis as the pampiniform plexus and become one testicular vein near the deep ring.

Key points

• Artery from the aorta at L2.
• Pampiniform plexus → single vein at the deep ring.
• Right vein → IVC; left vein → left renal vein.
• Varicocele mostly left-sided.
• Gonadal veins: subcardinal remnants (right → IVC, left → left renal vein).
• Pampiniform plexus cools the testis to ~35°C.
• Artery: thick media. Vein: thin wall, thick adventitia, valves.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 6, PDF pp. 733–734, 739–740
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF pp. 226, 268
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 197–199, 203–205; ch. 20, PDF p. 367

More from the abdomen

• Testis
• Transverse colon
• Transversus abdominis
• Umbilical cord
• Ureter
• Vas deferens
• Abdominal aorta
• Abdominal lymph nodes
• Appendix
• Ascending colon
• Biliary tree
• Caecum

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