Arteries of the thigh Flashcards
What are the three arteries that enter the thigh?
The femoral, obturator, and inferior gluteal artery.
What are the 4 small branches of the femoral artery?
The superficial circumflex iliac artery, the deep circumflex iliac artery, superficial external pudendal artery, and the deep external pudendal artery.
What is the largest branch of the femoral artery?
The deep artery of the thigh.
What is the course of the deep femoral artery?
It passes posteriorly between adductor longus and the pectineus muscle, and then between adductor longus and adductor brevis, and then inferiorly between adductor longus and adductor magnus, then pierces the adductor magnus to connect with branches of the popliteal artery behind the knee.
What are the branches of the deep artery of the thigh?
The medial branch, the lateral branch, and the three perforating arteries.
What are the three terminal branches of the lateral circumflex artery of the thigh?
The ascending branch which ascends laterally deep to the tensor fascia latae muscle and then connnects with a branch of the medial circumflex femoral artery.
The descending branch which descends laterally deep to the rectus femoris then pierces the vastus lateralis muscle to connect with a branch of the popliteal artery.
The transverse branch which passes laterally to pierce the vastus lateralis muscle then encircles the proximal shaft of the femur and anastomoses with the medial femoral circumflex artery, the inferior gluteal artery, and the first perforating artery to form the cruciate anasotomosis.
What muscle does the perforating artery go through?
The adductor brevis
What are the branches of the medial circumflex femoral artery?
One branch ascends to the trochanteric fossa and connects with branches of the gluteal and and lateral circumflex femoral arteries.
The other branch passes laterally to anastomose with the gluteal and lateral circumflex femoral artery to form the cruciate anastomosis channel at the proximal femur.
What does the obturator artery pass through to get to the femur?
Anterior and posterior divisions.
What is peripheral vascular disease?
A disease characterized by reduced blood supply to parts of the body besides the heart and brain.
What is chronic leg ischemia?
A disorder caused by atheromatous change and often luminal narrowing.
What is the most common symptom of chronic leg ischemia?
Intermitten claudication: the calf muscles or the gluteal muscles experience pain due to femoral or aortoiliac artery occlusions respectively.
What is a complication that may occur which adds to chronic limb ischemia?
Acute on chronic limb ischemia happens when an acute blood clot suddenly forms in the vasculature of the limbs.
Which patients are prone towards embolic diseases?
Patients with atrial fibrilation or mitral valve diseases.
What is critical limb ischemia?
A complication of peripheral vascular disease in which the limb’s blood supply has become obsolete and the limb is in a critically endangered status.
