Medial circumflex femoral artery

Artery: Medial circumflex femoral artery
The profunda femoris artery, femoral artery and their major branches - right thigh, anterior view. Circumflex femoral arteries labeled.
Latin	arteria circumflexa femoris medialis
Gray's	subject #157 630
Supplies	thigh
Source	deep femoral artery, femoral artery

The medial circumflex femoral artery (internal circumflex artery, medial femoral circumflex artery) is an artery in the upper thigh that helps supply blood to the neck of the femur.

Structure

The medial femoral circumflex artery arises from the medial and posterior aspect of the profunda femoris artery, and winds around the medial side of the femur, passing first between the pectineus and iliopsoas muscles, and then between the obturator externus and the adductor brevis muscles.

The medial femoral circumflex artery may occasionally arise directly from the femoral artery.

Branches

At the upper border of the adductor brevis it gives off two branches:

• The ascending branch

• The descending branch descends beneath the adductor brevis, to supply it and the adductor magnus; the continuation of the vessel passes backward and divides into superficial, deep, and acetabular branches.
  • The superficial branch
  • The deep branch
  • The acetabular branch

See also

• Lateral femoral circumflex artery

External links

• Duke Orthopedics medial_femoral_circumflex_artery
• medial+circumflex+femoral+artery at eMedicine Dictionary
• SUNY Figs 12:04-06 - "Arteries of the lower extremity shown in association with major landmarks."

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.