Medial circumflex femoral artery
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
At the time the article was created Jeremy Jones had no recorded disclosures.
View Jeremy Jones's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Kajanan Nithiyananthan had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Kajanan Nithiyananthan's current disclosures- Internal circumflex artery
- Medial femoral circumflex artery
- Circumflexa femoris interna
- Arteriae circumflexae femoris medialis
The medial circumflex femoral artery is usually a branch of the profunda femoris that arises close to its origin, usually before the origin of the lateral circumflex femoral artery. It provides blood to the femoral neck and damage to the artery or involvement of it in pathological processes may result in decreased flow and avascular necrosis of the femoral head.
On this page:
Summary
origin: profunda femoris
-
supply
adductors and hamstring muscles
branches: ascending and descending
Gross anatomy
Origin
The medial circumflex femoral artery arises from the medial aspect of the profunda femoris artery soon after it branches from the common femoral artery in the upper thigh. It travels laterally and posteriorly around the femoral neck between pectineus and the psoas tendon and supplies blood to the femoral neck along with the lateral circumflex femoral artery.
Branches
At the upper border of adductor brevis it branches into two:
ascending branch goes on to join the trochanteric anastomosis
transverse branch forms the medial limb of the cruciate anastomosis
The descending branch runs beneath adductor brevis and supplies adductor magnus before branching into three:
superficial branch
deep branch
acetabular branch
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Variants
-
variant origin 1
common femoral artery: very common - 39.3%
absent: 0.6% 1
Quiz questions
References
- 1. Al-Talalwah W. The medial circumflex femoral artery origin variability and its radiological and surgical intervention significance. (2015) SpringerPlus. 4: 149. doi:10.1186/s40064-015-0881-2 - Pubmed
Incoming Links
- Pectineus muscle
- Profunda femoris branches (mnemonic)
- Gracilis muscle
- Lateral circumflex femoral artery
- Iliopsoas muscle
- Obturator externus muscle
- Trochanteric anastomosis
- Adductor minimus muscle
- Inferior gluteal artery
- Hip joint
- Superior gluteal artery
- Cruciate anastomosis
- Pubis
- Obturator artery
- Proximal femoral fractures
- Profunda femoris artery
- Femoroacetabular joint
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