Author(s): Anjankar VP, Panshewdikar PN, Thakre G, Mane U, Tekale V
Background: Femoral artery is commonly utilized for angiographies, insertion of central lines, ultrasound & Doppler imaging, digital subtraction angiography, magnetic resonance imaging and other various investigative and diagnostic procedures. The anatomical knowledge of variations of femoral artery and its branches is important as it is frequently accessed by surgeons and radiologists for number of procedures. Accurate knowledge of anatomical variations regarding origins of the profunda femoris, medial and lateral femoral circumflex arteries are important for clinicians in the present modern era of interventional radiology.
Methods: We studied femoral artery and its branches on 60 embalmed and formalin fixed cadavers by dissection method. We observed that profunda femoris artery, largest branch of femoral artery arises from posterolateral aspect in majority of the cadavers. Lateral circumflex femoral artery originates from femoral artery in nearly 70% of the cadavers.
Conclusion: Anatomy of the femoral artery and its branches is crucial from point of view of surgeons, interventional radiologist, and physicians etc. so this study will be very useful in reducing the chances of intra-operative secondary haemorrhage and post-operative complications.