hi let's talk about the common iliac arteries and their branches in this
video we'll discuss the major branches of the common internal and external iliac arteries
we'll then go on to refine the branches of the external iliac artery by discussing the femoral
popliteal and anterior and posterior tibial arteries
the abdominal aorta descends down through the retroperitoneum and approximately at the l4
vertebral level is going to split into the common iliac arteries those common iliac arteries ride
around the the crest of the pelvic cavity and then divide into external
and internal iliac arteries the internal iliac arteries are amazingly variable
they serve the pelvic viscera and the perineum and external genitalia
the external iliac arteries head out underneath the inguinal ligament which we can see here
where they become the femoral arteries as such the external iliac arteries are
ultimately going to serve the inferior anterior abdominal wall the hip and the lower limb
so let's take a look at the rough schema of the lower limb so here we have the external iliac
artery coming through and then as it descends under the inguinal ligament it transforms into the
femoral artery over here on the the ketoveric photograph here if i were to draw in the
inguinal ligament it would be about there and we can see this is roughly within the
femoral triangle we can see that the femoral artery is descending
down the anterior hip and it's there within this femoral triangle that the femoral artery
is going to send off one of its first major branches called the deep artery of the thigh
that deep artery of the thigh as we can see over here is going to serve the posterior
compartment of the thigh whereas the continuation of the femoral artery down the anterior thigh
will serve both anterior and parts of the medial compartment of the thigh now that femoral artery
is going to dive deep here you know it's going um between the adductor group and quadriceps
femoris and it's going to cross over into the the posterior portion of the thigh and it's going to
exit through the adductor hiatus where it becomes the popliteal artery that popliteal artery is best
viewed on the posterior aspect of the lower limb the popliteal fossa is that space behind the knee
now joints especially mobile joints like the knee benefit from a tremendous
amount of anastomoses so the shoulder joint is very well vascularized the knee joint the hip
joints they're they're all very well vascularized in particular with the knee there are sets of
arteries that anastomose with various branches of other arteries and with each other
called the genicular arteries so genu means a bend or to knee
or the knee such as to genuflect so these genicular arteries specifically serve the knee
continuing down inferiorly through the popliteal fossa that popliteal artery is going to divide
into an anterior tibial artery and a posterior tibial artery so those are
the uh the terminal branches of the popliteal artery anterior and posterior tibial arteries
the anterior tibia so let's actually start over here so here we are in the popliteal fossa
and we can see the popliteal artery descending down through the popliteal fossa and it is going
to divide into the anterior and posterior tibial arteries the anterior tibial artery
is going to serve both the anterior compartment of the leg as well as it will be the major blood
supply to the lateral compartment of the leg as well that anterior tibial artery
descends down it crosses over or i should say under through the ankle
and it becomes when it enters the dorsal of dorsum of the foot the dorsalis
pedis artery so the artery of the dorsal surface of the foot it's then going to take a
deep dive down through these metatarsals and end up on the plantar surface of the foot as the deep
plantar artery so just to follow that pathway femoral to popliteal to anterior tibial
to dorsalis to the deep plantar artery now let's let's put a a little pin in that for the time
being so that's where we that's where we left off now we can follow the posterior tibial artery
it's going to send a branch called the fibular artery also known as the peroneal artery
anatomists call various uh neurovascular elements and muscles fibular whereas
many clinicians refer to them as peroneal you may call them either so this is that
fibular or peroneal artery it is going to be the minor blood supply to the lateral compartment of
the leg keeping in mind that the anterior tibial is the major blood supply to that
the the posterior tibial continues down it's the major blood supply to the posterior compartment uh
superficial and deep of the leg and you can see it continuing down and then it goes posterior to the
medial malleolus and it's going to wrap around the calcaneus and at that point it's going to split
into the medial and lateral plantar arteries so let's follow that pathway we have femoral
popliteal to posterior tibial and then at the calcaneus medial and lateral plantar arteries
the medial plantar artery runs along the medial surface of the plantar the medial side of the
plantar surface of the foot whereas the lateral plantar artery runs along the lateral side of the
plantar surface of the foot so this lateral plantar artery and the deep plantar artery
coming from anterior tibial come together in an anastomosis called the plantar arterial arch
to fully serve that plantar surface of the foot so we have ultimately a connection between
downstream branches of anterior and posterior tibial arteries serving the foot
so that is the that is the 10 000 foot view of the arteries of the lower limb all derived
from the external iliac artery and that leads us to our assessment question of the video
and that is which landmark indicates the transition of the external iliac artery to the
femoral artery is it the adductor hiatus the iliac crest the inguinal ligament the pelvic brim or the
popliteal fossa talking external iliac to femoral uh adductor hiatus no that's the transition from
the femoral to the popliteal iliac crest no that's up in the hip that's too high angular
ligament sounds pretty good to me you know the external iliac artery runs under that to become
the femoral artery so that's good pelvic brim sounds bad to me and popliteal fossa also sounds
bad so the correct answer to this is the inguinal ligament thank you very much for your time