What Is the Anterior Tibial Artery?

The anterior tibial artery is one of the terminal branches of the iliac artery. It originates from the iliac artery at the level of the tibial tuberosity, and then passes through the calf interstitial membrane to the front of the calf, descends along the anterior interosseous membrane and accompanies the deep peroneal nerve. The upper part of the calf is located between the tibialis anterior muscle and long toe extensor, and the downward side is attached to the outer side of the tibia between the tibialis anterior muscle and longus extensor hallucis. Continue to dorsal foot artery.

The anterior tibial artery is one of the terminal branches of the iliac artery. It originates from the iliac artery at the level of the tibial tuberosity, and then passes through the calf interstitial membrane to the front of the calf, descends along the anterior interosseous membrane and accompanies the deep peroneal nerve. The upper part of the calf is located between the tibialis anterior muscle and long toe extensor, and the downward side is attached to the outer side of the tibia between the tibialis anterior muscle and longus extensor hallucis. Continue to dorsal foot artery.

Chinese name

Anterior tibial artery

Foreign name

anterior tibial artery

Anatomy of the anterior tibial artery:

Before passing through the interosseous membrane, the anterior artery sometimes sends out the posterior tibial recurrent artery, which runs from the deep side of the diaphragm to the knee joint. After the anterior tibial artery passes through the interosseous membrane, the anterior tibial artery is issued immediately, and it also participates in the formation of the knee joint network. The medial malleolus and lateral malleolus branches are sent from the lower end of the anterior tibial artery to participate in the formation of the vascular network of the medial malleolus and lateral malleolus, respectively. Muscle branches nutrition calf muscles are sent along the basic trunk.

The anterior tibial artery moves into the dorsal foot artery at the lower edge of the extensor support band. With the development of microsurgery and the development of dorsal foot flap toe transplantation, the anatomy of dorsal foot artery has attracted the attention of surgeons. The artery is superficial at the midpoint of the medial and lateral malleolus line or at the back of the scaphoid of the foot, and its pulsation can be felt. It travels through the lateral side of the long extensor muscle and walks down to the deep side of the short extensor muscle. Its main branches are: deep plantar branch, passing through the first interosseous dorsal muscle and anastomosis with the lateral plantar artery to form the foot Bottom bow. The first dorsal metatarsal artery is divided into three dorsal metatarsal arteries along the surface of the dorsal muscle of the first interosseous bone to the 1 to 2 metatarsal heads, and is distributed on both sides of the toe and the medial edge of the second toe. The arcuate artery is divided into two dorsal toe arteries at the toe web, which are located on the back of the base of the metatarsal bone. It emits dorsal toe arteries at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th toes, and is distributed at the opposite edges of the 2nd to 5th toes. The domestic data on the incidence of arcuate arteries is only 34.72%. Therefore, the dorsal toe arteries of the 2nd to 4th toes often originate from the plantar arteries. The medial and lateral iliac arteries, starting from the middle of the dorsal foot artery, form a mesh with the arcuate artery; when the arcuate artery is too thin or absent, these arteries are large. If the anterior tibial artery is too thin or absent, the dorsal foot artery is often composed of the The perforating branch of the artery was replaced (4.04%). The proximal segment of the dorsal foot artery almost constantly emits four dorsal cutaneous arteries, with an average diameter of 0.65 mm or more; the distal segment accounts for 92%, and the diameter of most skin branches is also above 0.3 mm.

Branch of anterior tibial artery:

(1) The posterior tibial recurrent artery (posteriortibalrecurrentartery) is issued by the anterior tibial artery before periosteum and travels along the deep surface of the diaphragm to the knee joint to participate in the formation of the knee arterial network.

(2) Anterior tibial recurrent arteries (anteriortibialrecurrentartery) are issued immediately after the anterior tibial artery penetrates the interosseous membrane, and rises from the deep surface of the tibialis anterior muscle to the knee joint along the tibial bone surface to participate in the formation of the knee arterial network.

(3) The medial anterior malleolar artery (medialanteriormalleolarartery) is on the deep side of the anterior tibial muscle, and the ankle joint starts slightly from the anterior tibial artery and runs to the front of the medial malleolus, which coincides with the posterior medial malleolus artery.

(4) The lateral anterior malleolar artery (lateralanteriormalleolarartery) is deep in the long toe extensor muscle, and the ankle joint is sent slightly above the anterior line to the front of the ankle and anastomosis with the posterior lateral malleolus artery.