Deep artery of the thigh

The deep artery of the thigh, (profunda femoris artery or deep femoral artery) is a branch of the femoral artery that, as its name suggests, travels more deeply (posteriorly) than the rest of the femoral artery.

Deep artery of the thigh
The profunda femoris artery, femoral artery and their major branches - right thigh, anterior view. (Femoral profunda labeled at right center.)
Structures surrounding right hip-joint.
Details
Source	femoral artery
Branches	Lateral femoral circumflex Medial femoral circumflex Perforating
Vein	profunda femoris vein
Identifiers
Latin	arteria profunda femoris
TA98	A12.2.16.020
TA2	4685
FMA	20741
Anatomical terminology

Structure

The deep artery of the thigh branches off the femoral artery soon after its origin. It travels down the thigh closer to the femur than the femoral artery, running between the pectineus and the adductor longus, and running on the posterior side of adductor longus. The deep femoral artery does not leave the thigh.

Branches

The deep artery of the thigh gives off the following branches:

• Lateral circumflex femoral artery
• Medial circumflex femoral artery
• 3 Perforating arteries - perforate the adductor magnus muscle to the posterior and medial compartments of the thigh to connect with the branches of the popliteal artery behind the knee.

Additional images

• 
  Cross-section through the middle of the left thigh.
• 
  A schema of the arteries of the thigh.
• 
  Deep artery of the thigh
• 
  Deep artery of the thigh
• 
  Deep artery of the thigh

See also

• Femoral artery
• Obturator artery

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 629 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

• Profunda_femoris_deep_femoral_artery at the Duke University Health System's Orthopedics program
• Anatomy figure: 12:04-03 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Arteries of the lower extremity shown in association with major landmarks."
• Cross section image: pelvis/pelvis-e12-15—Plastination Laboratory at the Medical University of Vienna
• MedEd at Loyola grossanatomy/dissector/labs/le/ant_th_leg/main.html
• antthigh at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (femoralart)