Iliolumbar artery

Artery: Iliolumbar artery
The veins of the right half of the male pelvis. (Iliolumbar artery not labeled, but Iliolumbar vein visible at center right.)
Latin	a. iliolumbalis
Gray's	subject #155 621
Source	Internal iliac artery

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The iliolumbar artery is a branch of the posterior trunk of the internal iliac artery.

Course

The iliolumbar artery turns upward behind the obturator nerve and the external iliac artery and vein, to the medial border of the psoas major, behind which it divides into a lumbar and an iliac branch.

Lumbar branch

The lumbar branch of the iliolumbar artery (ramus lumbalis) supplies the psoas major and quadratus lumborum, anastomoses with the last lumbar artery, and sends a small spinal branch through the intervertebral foramen between the last lumbar vertebra and the sacrum, into the vertebral canal to supply the cauda equina.

Iliac branch

The iliac branch of the iliolumbar artery(ramus iliacus) descends to supply the iliacus muscle; some offsets, running between the muscle and the bone, anastomose with the iliac branches of the obturator artery; one of these enters an oblique canal to supply the bone, while others run along the crest of the ilium, distributing branches to the gluteal and abdominal muscles, and anastomosing in their course with the superior gluteal artery, iliac circumflex artery, and the lateral circumflex femoral artery.

External links

• SUNY Labs 44:10-0100
• SUNY Radiology Pelvis:15PelArt
• SUNY Figs 43:07-02
• Norman/Georgetown pelvis (pelvicarteries)
• Illustration at mrcog-wiseowl.com

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

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