Variation in the origin of lateral circumflex femoral artery

Asharani S K^1*, Vasantha Kuberappa², Divyalatha³

¹Assistant Professor, ³Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, B G Nagar

Nagamangala, Mandya (district) – 571448, Karnataka, INDIA.

²Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences, Karnataka, INDIA.

Email: ashakshetty@gmail.com

Abstract              Introduction: The lateral circumflex femoral artery arises from the lateral side of the profundafemoris artery, passes horizontally between the divisions of the femoral nerve and behind the Sartorius and rectus femoris, and divides into ascending, transverse and descending branches. During routine dissection of cadavers allotted for first MBBS students, variation in the origin of lateral circumflex femoral artery was observed unilaterally in an old aged female cadaver. In the present study, the lateral circumflex femoral artery was taking origin directly from the lateral side of femoral artery. The branches of lateral circumflex femoral artery are used in making anterolateral thigh flap for reconstruction of defects in face, aorto-popliteal bypass, coronary artery bypass grafting. As the femoral artery is the main artery of the lower limb and is frequently visualized by various radiological imaging techniques, anatomical variations of itself as well as its branches have significant clinical importance.

Keywords: Femoral artery, Femoral nerve, Lateral circumflex femoral artery, Profundafemoris artery.