Pudendal nerve
The pudendal nerve is the main nerve of the perineum.: 274 It is a mixed (motor and sensory) nerve and also conveys sympathetic autonomic fibers. It carries sensation from the external genitalia of both sexes and the skin around the anus and perineum, as well as the motor supply to various pelvic muscles, including the male or female external urethral sphincter and the external anal sphincter.
| Pudendal nerve | |
|---|---|
Pudendal nerve, course and branches in a male. | |
Cross-section of female pelvis in which nerve emerges from S2, S3, and S4 extends between the uterus and the anus and into labium minora, labium majora and the clitoris | |
| Details | |
| From | Sacral nerves S2, S3, S4 |
| To | Inferior rectal nerves perineal nerve dorsal nerve of the penis dorsal nerve of the clitoris |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | nervus pudendus |
| MeSH | D060525 |
| TA98 | A14.2.07.037 |
| TA2 | 6554 |
| FMA | 19037 |
| Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy | |
If damaged, most commonly by childbirth, loss of sensation or fecal incontinence may result. The nerve may be temporarily anesthetized, called pudendal anesthesia or pudendal block.
The pudendal canal that carries the pudendal nerve is also known by the eponymous term "Alcock's canal", after Benjamin Alcock, an Irish anatomist who documented the canal in 1836.