Femoral Artery Scheme (Course, Branches) | Anatomy — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hello and welcome to another video, This  video’s going to be about the Femoral Artery.
2. 0:04The femoral artery is a large artery in the
3. 0:06Thigh and the main arterial  supply to the thigh and leg.
4. 0:11It enters the thigh from behind  the inguinal ligament, in a canal
5. 0:15called Vascular space, or Lacuna Vasorum in latin. It enters the thigh as a continuation of the
6. 0:18external iliac artery. As you  see here, and gets the name
7. 0:19The femoral artery only after  it has passed this canal.
8. 0:24So first I’ll try to cover the course of  this artery, as in where it starts and ends,
9. 0:29and then I’ll cover the branches and give  you a few tips on how to remember them.
10. 0:31Now As it passes the vascular space, it enters the
11. 0:35femoral triangle, and here is a better representation of it.
12. 0:39The femoral triangle is formed by the Sartorius muscle,
13. 0:42And the Adductor Longus. And within the canal,  you’ll find the Femoral artery passing between the
14. 0:49Pectineus and Iliopsoas muscle.
15. 0:52And so this is the femoral triangle. As the  femoral artery is relatively superficial within
16. 0:58the femoral triangle, the femoral pulse is usually  easily palpated. And If the pulse is diminished,
17. 1:04this may indicate partial occlusion of the  common iliac artery or the external iliac
18. 1:11artery. And since the femoral artery can often be  palpated through the skin, it is often used as a
19. 1:18catheter access artery. Meaning they insert  wires retrogradely, against the bloodstream,
20. 1:23to then be directed anywhere in the arterial  system for intervention or diagnostics, including
21. 1:29the heart, brain, kidneys, arms and legs, so it’s  a really useful place in a clinical perspective.
22. 1:36Now as the artery passes the femoral triangle It descends and goes through the adductor canal.
23. 1:43And if we make a cross section, you’ll  find the artery going between the
24. 1:47adductor longus, Sartorius  and the Vastus medialis,
25. 1:50To then leave the canal at the lower orifice and  continues as The popliteal artery behind the knee.
26. 1:57Now, that was the course of the  artery, let’s covert he side branches.
27. 2:02There are really two categories  we divide the side branches in,
28. 2:04the superficial ones, and the deep ones. There are three superficial arteries.
29. 2:10There’s the Superficial circumflex iliac  artery going along the inguinal ligament to
30. 2:13the lateral side to supply the skin and fascia. There’s the Superficial epigastric artery which
31. 2:19ascends in front of the inguinal ligament  and finishes in the region of the navel.
32. 2:26It supplies the lower part of skin, subcutaneous  tissue and fascia of the anterior wall of
33. 2:32the abdominal cavity below the umbilicus; Then there’s the External pudendal arteries,
34. 2:38supplying the external genitals. Now let’s visualize these arteries
35. 2:41in a different scheme. Here on the left  is the superficial layer of the thorax,
36. 2:46then if we remove a few muscles, we’ll see  the deep layer represented in the right side.
37. 2:52Now remember on the deeper layers, There’s the subclavian artery,
38. 2:56Giving off the internal thoracic  artery, which supplies the
39. 2:59Muscles between the ribs through the  intercostala rterues, and then divides
40. 3:03Into the musculophrenic and the superior  epigastric artery at the region of the 7th rib.
41. 3:10Inferiorly there’s the external  iliac artery, giving off
42. 3:13The Inferior epigastric artery. So here you see  the superior and the inferior epigastric arteries
43. 3:20connect. Superficially However,
44. 3:23here you still see the femoral artery with the Superficial circumflex iliac artery here going to
45. 3:29the lateral side to supply the skin and fascia. Then the Superficial epigastric artery which
46. 3:35as you see hre ascends to the region of the  navel. It supplies the lower part of skin,
47. 3:40subcutaneous tissue and fascia of the anterior  wall of the abdominal cavity below the umbilicus;
48. 3:47Then there’s the External pudendal arteries,  supplying the external genitals. So now
49. 3:55Let’s cover the deep branches of the  femoral artery, they’re two. The first one
50. 4:03Is the deep femoral artery which leaves the  femoral artery at about 3 – 4 cm below Inguinal
51. 4:10ligament, then descends behind the femoral  artery and supplies muscles of the thigh.
52. 4:16As it ascends, it gives off small branches called
53. 4:20Perforating branches. In theory they should be  three perforating branches which pierce medial
54. 4:26muscles of the thigh, and run posteriorly to  supply the posterior muscles of the thigh.
55. 4:33Then there’s the Lateral circumflex  artery, going anteriorly, to then
56. 4:38Divide into three branches to supply the muscles  of the anterior compartment of the thigh,
57. 4:43The Ascending branch will Communicate with the other
58. 4:46side branch of the deep femoral artery, the medial  femoral circumflex artery, which supply the medial
59. 4:53muscles of the thigh and form a anestemoting  connection form around the hip joint to supply it.
60. 5:01Lastly there’s the Descending  genicular artery, which descends
61. 5:05towards the knee and takes part in forming  the patellar network to supply the knee joint.
62. 5:11So that was all I had for the femoral artery.
63. 5:14My next video will be about the  arterial blood supply of the knee.