Pisiform at a glance
- What it is
- A small, pea-shaped carpal bone on the palmar side of the triquetrum.
- Location
- Lies at the ulnar side of the base of the palm, in the tendon of flexor carpi ulnaris.
- Function
- Acts as a sesamoid bone that increases the leverage of flexor carpi ulnaris.
- Body system
- Skeletal · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA24442 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It is the only carpal bone that is a sesamoid, and it ossifies later than the others.
- Abductor digiti minimi arises from it, and the pisohamate and pisometacarpal ligaments extend the pull of flexor carpi ulnaris to the hamate and fifth metacarpal.
Clinical relevance
The ulnar nerve and artery pass beside it in Guyon's canal.
Structures next to the pisiform
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Triquetral · skeletal
- Hamate · skeletal
- Dorsal carpal branch of ulnar artery · cardiovascular
- Superficial palmar arterial arch · cardiovascular
- Lunate · skeletal
- Capitate · skeletal
- Deep palmar arch · cardiovascular
- Opponens digiti minimi of hand · muscular
- Scaphoid · skeletal
- Flexor digiti minimi brevis of hand · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Pisiform (FMA24442). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.