Lateral circumflex femoral artery

Artery: Lateral circumflex femoral artery
The profunda femoris artery, femoral artery and their major branches - right thigh, anterior view. (External circumflex labeled at upper left.)
Circumpatellar anastomosis. (Descending branch of lateral femoral circumflex visible at upper left.)
Latin	arteria circumflexa femoris lateralis
Gray's	subject #157 630
Source	deep femoral artery
Dorlands / Elsevier	a_61/12153889

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

The lateral circumflex femoral artery (lateral femoral circumflex artery, external circumflex artery) is an artery in the upper thigh.

Structure

The lateral femoral circumflex artery arises from the lateral side of the profunda femoris artery, passes horizontally between the divisions of the femoral nerve, and behind the sartorius and rectus femoris, and divides into ascending, transverse, and descending branches. The lateral femoral circumflex artery may occasionally arise directly from the femoral artery.

Branches

The ascending branch passes upward, beneath the tensor fasciae latae muscle, to the lateral aspect of the hip, and anastomoses with the terminal branches of the superior gluteal artery and deep circumflex iliac artery.

The descending branch runs downward, behind the rectus femoris, upon the vastus lateralis, to which it gives offsets; one long branch descends in the muscle as far as the knee, and anastomoses with the superior lateral genicular artery. It is accompanied by the branch of the femoral nerve to the vastus lateralis muscle.

The transverse branch, the smallest, passes lateralward over the vastus intermedius, pierces the vastus lateralis, and winds around the femur, just below the greater trochanter, anastomosing on the back of the thigh with the medial femoral circumflex artery, the inferior gluteal artery, and the perforating arteries of the profunda femoris artery.

See also

• Medial femoral circumflex artery

Additional images

• 

  The femoral artery.

External links

• Duke Orthopedics lateral_circumflex_femoral_artery
• lateral+circumflex+femoral+artery at eMedicine Dictionary
• SUNY Figs 12:04-01 - "Arteries of the lower extremity shown in association with major landmarks."
• Cross section at UV pelvis/pelvis-e12-15

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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.