obturator
/ˈɒbtjʊəreɪtə
/noun Anatomy
1Either of two muscles covering the outer front part of the pelvis on each side and involved in movements of the thigh and hip.The surgeon uses a special hip arthroscopy cannula with cannulated obturators to establish the portals....
- These branches supply the pectineus, the hip joint, and, by rejoining the obturator, the adductor muscles.
- In one case the iliolumbar was a branch of the obturator, itself a branch of the internal iliac.
1.1 [as modifier] Relating to the obturator or to the obturator foramen: obturator neurectomy...
- Metastatic prostatic and transitional cell carcinomas were present in a single obturator lymph node.
- No tumor was detected in the right and left obturator lymph nodes.
- The obturator artery is very variable in origin and no embryological explanation has been found.
Origin
Early 18th century: from medieval Latin, literally 'obstructor', from obturare 'stop up'.