- See:
-
blood supply for femoral head;
-
external rotators of the hip
- Discussion:
- MFCA supplies majority of blood supply to femoral head;
- branches of MFCA enter capsule of hip joint near its distal insertion and couse proximally along femoral neck toward femoral head;
- medial femoral circumflex artery arises from posteromedial aspect of
deep femoral artery and less commonly from the common femoral artery;
- its course is deep into femoral triangle, between
pectineus and
psoas & under neck of femur to the back of thigh;
- MFCA may send branches to
adductor brevis & adductor magnus;
- forms an important astomosis:
cruciate anastomosis ;
- five consistent branches of the medial femoral circumflex artery:
-
deep branch: runs toward the intertrochanteric crest between
pectineus medially and the
iliopsoas tendon laterally along inferior border of
obturator externus;
- main division of the deep branch crosses posterior to obturator externus and anterior to
superior gemellus,
obturator internus, and
inferior gemellus;
- runs in space between the quadratus femoris and the inferior gemellus
- perforates the capsule superfior to the insertion of superior gemellus and distal to piriformis;
- vessels course beneath synovial sheath of reflected portion of capsule of joint posterosuperiorly on the neck of the femur;
-
trochanteric branch:
- branches off next to the proximal border of quadratus femoris, crossing over trochanteric crest toward the lateral aspect of greater trochanter;
-
posterior branch: it can be identified in the space between the quadratus femoris and the inferior gemellus;
-
anterior branch:
- anterior to
quadratus femoris, MFCA artery divides into ascending branch to the trochanteric fossa of femur & transverse branch to
the hamstring muscles beyond the ischial tuberosity;
- preserving the attachment of the obturator externus tendon during surgery and dislocation protects the ascending branch of the MFCA from rupture and/or stretching;
-
transverse branch appears between
quadratus femoris & upper border of
adductor magnus;
- runs adjacent to the proximal border of the quadratus femoris, crossing over the trochanteric crest toward the lateral aspect of the greater trochanter;
Anatomy of the medial femoral circumflex artery and its surgical implications.
Vascularity of the Arthritic Femoral Head and Hip Resurfacing.
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Deep Circumflex Iliac Artery
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Femoral Artery
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Profunda Femoris Artery
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Medial and Lateral Femoral Circumflex Arteries
