What Is the Superficial Femoral Artery?

The femoral artery is a direct continuation of the external iliac artery. It starts from the back of the midpoint of the inguinal ligament, penetrates the vascular space and enters the femoral triangle, and enters the adductor tube from the tip of the femoral triangle. artery.

The femoral artery is a direct continuation of the external iliac artery. It starts from the back of the midpoint of the inguinal ligament, penetrates the vascular space and enters the femoral triangle, and enters the adductor tube from the tip of the femoral triangle. artery.

Chinese name

Femoral artery

Foreign name

femoral artery

Function

Center of the stock triangle

Number of branches

3

Femoral Artery 1. Femoral Artery Adjacent:

The part of the femoral artery in the vascular space is located between the femoral vein and the iliac and pubis comb ligament, and the vein is enclosed in a common vascular sheath, but there is a connective tissue gap between the two. The femoral artery is in the femoral triangle with a starting segment of about 3 to 4 cm and a thick outer diameter of up to 9.0 mm. This part of the femoral artery is relatively shallow and is located on the deep side of the oval border of the oval fossa. Superficial inguinal lymph nodes, superficial spiral veins, and inguinal nerves are still distributed on the surface of the sickle margin. Near the apex of the femoral triangle, the medial femoral cutaneous nerve crosses the femoral artery from the lateral side to the medial side, and the saphenous nerve enters the adductor tube outside the artery. Behind the femoral artery, it is adjacent to the psoas tendon, pubis, and long adductor in order from the outside to the inside. The outer side of the femoral artery is the femoral nerve. The femoral vein is located on the medial side of the artery in the upper part of the femoral triangle and turns behind the artery in the lower part. The part of the femoral artery in the adductor canal is covered by the anterior wall (tendon) and the sartorius muscle of the adductor canal. The medial femoral muscle is located on the anterolateral side and the long adductor and adductor are connected at the back. The femoral artery occupies the outside of the femoral artery, and then passes from the front to the medial side. The femoral vein is located in the upper part of the adductor tube, and is located behind the artery to the outside and turns to the outside. In the state of hip and knee flexion, external rotation and abduction, from the midpoint of the anterior superior spine to the pubic symphysis line, down to the line of the femoral epicondyle, the upper 2/3 part of this line, That is the body surface projection of the femoral artery.

Femoral artery 2. Deep femoral artery:

The deep femoral artery is the largest branch of the femoral artery. It starts at the outer lateral wall of the femoral artery 2.5 to 5 cm (76%) below the inguinal ligament, and descends between the long adductor major adductor and the inner side of the medial femoral muscle. The branch passes through the lower part of the adductor muscle to the back of the femur.

The deep femoral artery emits the following branches along the way: the medial femoral artery starts from the posteromedial side of the deep femoral artery, surrounds the medial femur between the pubis muscle and the iliopsoas muscle, and passes through the lower edge of the obturator external muscle to the back of the femur, and Branches of the inferior gluteal artery, lateral femoral circumflex artery, and first perforating artery form a cross anastomosis. The medial circumflex femoral artery also emits an acetabular branch, which passes from below the acetabular transverse ligament to the acetabular concavity, is distributed in the hip joint and coincides with the obturator artery joint branch. The lateral femoral circumflex artery starts from the outer side wall of the deep femoral artery and travels outwards. It is divided into three branches: ascending, transverse, and descending. The ascending branch passes through the deep side of the rectus femoris muscle and is distributed in the broad fascia tensors, the sartorius muscle, and the hip joint. The descending branch passes through the lateral femoral muscle and is distributed near the knee joint. Cross the branch to the back of the thigh, participate in cross anastomosis. perforating arteries, 3-4 branches, which are sent from deep femoral arteries, pass around the femur to the femur, and nourish the posterior thigh muscles.

There are many variations in the starting points of the deep femoral artery, the inner femoral circumflex, and the lateral femoral circumflex arteries. Based on domestic data, the variations are more common in the following four types: Type I, the deep femoral artery, inner femoral circumflex, and lateral femoral circumflex arteries all start from the femur Arterial patients, accounting for 63.6%. In type , the lateral femoral circumflex artery originates from the deep femoral artery, and the medial femoral circumflex artery originates from the femoral artery, accounting for 15.6%. Type , the medial femoral circumflex artery originates from the deep femoral artery, and the lateral femoral circumflex artery originates from the femoral artery, accounting for 12.7%. In type , the internal femoral, lateral femoral and deep femoral arteries originated from the femoral artery, accounting for 3.5%.