Anatomy study note · Abdomen

Inferior epigastric vessels

The inferior epigastric artery, a branch of the external iliac artery just above the inguinal ligament, supplies the lower central abdominal wall and anastomoses with the superior epigastric artery inside the rectus sheath.

Key points

• From the external iliac, just above the inguinal ligament.
• Medial to the deep inguinal ring.
• Enters the rectus sheath at the arcuate line.
• Indirect hernia lateral, direct hernia medial to it.
• Anastomoses with the superior epigastric.
• Epigastric arteries: ventral anastomoses of intersegmental arteries.
• Artery: thick media. Vein: thin wall, thick adventitia, valves.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Course · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 6, PDF pp. 722–723, 726, 759–761
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF p. 256
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 197–199, 203–205

More from the abdomen

• Inferior mesenteric artery
• Inferior vena cava
• Inguinal ligament
• Internal oblique
• Jejunum and ileum
• Kidney
• Large intestine
• Linea alba
• Liver
• Lumbar plexus
• Pancreas
• Peritoneum

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