Common illiac artery

1. The common iliac artery (a. iliaca communis).
• The right and left arteries are two end branches into which the aorta
divides at the level of the L4 vertebra.
• The division occurs slightly to the left of the midline, as a result of
which the right common iliac artery is 6-7mm longer than the left
artery.
• From the site of the bifurcation (bifurcatio aortae), the common
iliac arteries diverge at an acute angle (approximately 60 degrees in
males and 68-70 degrees in females due to the wider female pelvis)
and pass downward and laterally to the sacroiliac joint.
• Each artery divides into two end branches; the internal iliac artery
(a. iliac interna), supplying the walls and organs of the pelvis with
blood, and the external iliac artery (a. iliaca externa), serving mainly
the lower limb.

3. THE INTERNAL ILIAC ARTERY
• The internal iliac artery (a. iliac interna), arising from the
distal end of the common iliac artery at the level of the
sacroiliac joint, descends into the true pelvis and extends to
the superior edge of the greater sciatic foramen.
• Its division into parietal and visceral branches is marked by
wide individual variation

4. The parietal branches of the internal iliac artery
1. The iliolumbar artery (a. iliolumbalis)
2. The lateral sacral artery (a. sacralis lateralis)
3. The superior gluteal artery (a. glutea superior)
4. The obturator artery (a. obturatoria)
5. The inferior gluteal artery (a. glutea inferior)
The visceral branches of the internal iliac aretry
1. The umbilical artery (a. umbilicalis)
2. The ureteric branches (rami ureteric)
3. The superior and inferior vesical arteries (aa. Vesicales superior and inferior)
4. The artery of vas deferens (a. ductis deferentis)
5. The uterine artery (a. uterina) (in females)
6. The middle rectal artery (a. rectalis media)
7. The internal pudendal artery (a. pudenda interna)

6. THE EXTERNAL ILIAC ARTERY
The external iliac artery (a. iliaca axterna), beginning at the
level of the sacroiliac joint, stretches down and forward along
the medial edge of m. psoas to the inguinal ligament when it
passes from under this ligament onto the femur, it is called
the femoral artery. Besides small branches to m. psoas, a.
iliaca externa gives rise to two large branches, which originate
very near the inguinal ligament.

7. (1) The inferior epiagstric artery (a. epigastrica inferior) passes medially and
then upward, between the fascia transversalis in front and the
peritoneum parietale in back (the plica umbilicalis lateralis is located in its
fold), and enters the sheath of the rectus abdominalis muscle. It then
leades upward along the posterior surface of the muscle where its
branches anastomoses with a. epigastrica superior (from a. thoracia
interna). It is beginning segment it bends aroubd the medial edge of the
deep orifice of the lingual canal, at which point it gives off two branches:
(a) the ramus pubicus to the symphysis pubica, which anastomoses with
a. obturatoria; and (b) a. cremasterica, which leads to m. cremaster and
the testis;
(2) The deep circumflex iliac arery (a. circumflexa ilium profunda), bending
around the iliac bone, passes parallel to the inguinal ligament toward the
iliac crest posteriorly, supplying m. transversus and the iliac muscle with
blood.

9. The Femoral Artery
The femoral artery (a. femoralis) is a continuation of the trunk of
the external iliac artery, so called because it passes under the inguinal
ligament through the lacuna vasorum near the middle of theis ligament.
To stop bleeding at the femoral artery, the artery is compressed at the
site where it exit onto the femur to the os pubis. Medially from the
femoral artery is the femoral vein, with which the artery passes to the
femoral triangle, proceeding first into the sulcus illiopectineus and then
into the sulcus femoralis anterior and penatrating further through the
canalis adductorius into the popliteal fossa where it continues in a.
poplitea.

10. The branches of a. femoralis