| plexus of spinal nerves | An intermingling of fibre fascicles from adjacent spinal nerves to form a network; the major plexus's are the cervical, brachial, and lumbosacral. Synonym: plexus nervorum spinalium. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| plexus ophthalmicus | An autonomic plexus, entering the orbit in company with the ophthalmic artery, derived from the internal carotid plexus. Synonym: plexus ophthalmicus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus ovaricus | An autonomic plexus derived from the aortic plexus and accompanying the ovarian artery to the ovary, broad ligament, and uterine tube. Synonym: plexus ovaricus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pampiniformis | <anatomy> A plexus formed, in the male, by veins from the testicle and epididymis, consisting of eight or ten veins lying in front of the ductus deferens and forming part of the spermatic cord. In the female the ovarian veins form this plexus between the layers of the broad ligament; in the male it is part of the thermoregulatory system of the testis, helping to keep the testis at a constant temperature slightly lower than the other body temperature. Synonym: plexus pampiniformis. (21 Jun 2000) |
| plexus pancreaticus | The autonomic plexus that accompanies the pancreatic arteries. Synonym: plexus pancreaticus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pelvinus | An alternate term for inferior hypogastric plexus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus periarterialis | An autonomic plexus that accompanies an artery, surrounding it in a network of autonomic nerve fibres. Synonym: plexus periarterialis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pharyngeus | The plexus of nerves including branches of the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves (cranial root), that lies along the posterior wall of the pharynx, a venous plexus on the posteriolateral walls of the pharynx, emptying through the pharyngeal veins into the internal jugular. Synonym: plexus pharyngeus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pharyngeus ascendens | An autonomic plexus on the artery of the same name, formed of fibres from the superior cervical ganglion. Synonym: plexus pharyngeus ascendens. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus prostaticovesicalis | A venous plexus which includes the prostatic venous plexus around the prostate gland and that of the neck of the bladder; it communicates with the vesical and pudendal plexus's, receives the deep dorsal vein of the penis, and empties. By one or more efferent vessels into the internal iliac (hypogastric) vein; it corresponds to the inferior vesical plexus in the female. Synonym: plexus prostaticovesicalis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus prostaticus | An autonomic plexus of nerves intimately associated with the capsule of the prostate, derived from the inferior hypogastric plexus, and giving rise to the cavernous nerves to the erectile tissue of the penis; surgical injury of this plexus ofter results in impotency. Synonym: plexus prostaticus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pterygoideus | A venous plexus occupying the infratemporal fossa receiving veins accompanying the branches of the maxillary artery, and terminating posteriorly in the maxillary vein; anteriorly the pterygoid plexus drains via the deep facial vein into the facial vein. Synonym: plexus pterygoideus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pudendalis | A venous plexus, arising chiefly from the dorsal vein of the penis, situated below the base of the bladder at the sides of the prostate. See: prostaticovesical plexus. Synonym: plexus venosus prostaticus, plexus pudendalis, Santorini's labyrinth. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pudendus nervosus | <anatomy, nerve> Formed by fibres from the ventral primary rami of the second, third, and fourth sacral spinal nerves; it exits the pelvis via the greater sciatic foramen, passes posterior to the sacrospinous ligament, and accompanies the internal pudendal artery, into the perineum via the lesser sciatic foramen; it gives off inferior rectal nerves, then courses through the pudendal canal in the lateral wall of the ischiorectal fossa, terminating as the dorsal nerve of the penis or of the clitoris. Synonym: nervus pudendus, plexus pudendus nervosus, pudic nerve. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plexus pulmonalis | One of two autonomic plexus's, anterior and posterior, at the hilus of each lung, formed by cardiopulmonary splanchnic nerves of the sympathetic trunk and bronchial branches of the vagus nerve; from them various branches accompany the bronchi and arteries into the lung. Synonym: plexus pulmonalis. (05 Mar 2000) |