Anatomy study note · Lower limb

Femoral artery

The main artery of the lower limb. It continues the external iliac artery under the inguinal ligament, midway between the ASIS and the symphysis, and becomes the popliteal artery at the adductor hiatus.

Key points

• Mid-inguinal point → adductor hiatus.
• Femoral triangle, lateral → medial: femoral nerve, artery, vein, femoral canal (lymphatics).
• Profunda femoris 4 cm below the ligament.
• Femoral canal = medial compartment of the sheath (hernia site).
• Lower limb axis artery: 5th lumbar intersegmental.
• Femoral artery is a new vessel.
• Artery: intima / media (smooth muscle) / adventitia.
• Most named arteries are muscular; aorta is elastic.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Course · Branches · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 1308–1317
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF p. 258
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 197–199

More from the lower limb

• Femoral nerve
• Femoral vein
• Femur
• Fibula
• Fibularis brevis
• Fibularis longus
• Fibularis tertius
• Flexor digitorum longus
• Flexor hallucis longus
• Gastrocnemius
• Gluteal nerves
• Gluteus maximus

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