Femoral artery

At a glance

English

Femoral artery

Latin (TA2)

Arteria femoralis

System

Artery

Region

Lower limb

Side

Paired, left and right

About the femoral artery

The femoral artery carries nearly all the blood for the lower limb. It begins behind the inguinal ligament, at the mid-inguinal point, which lies midway from the pubic symphysis to the anterior superior iliac spine, carrying on directly from the external iliac artery. It runs down the front and inner side of the thigh and ends at the adductor hiatus, an opening in adductor magnus about two-thirds of the way down the thigh, where it becomes the popliteal artery.

In its upper part it lies in the femoral triangle, quite near the surface under skin and fascia. Here its first few centimetres share the femoral sheath with the femoral vein, which lies on its medial side; the femoral nerve lies outside the sheath on its lateral side. Behind it lie psoas, which keeps it off the hip joint, then pectineus and adductor longus. Lower down it passes under sartorius into the adductor canal, a channel between vastus medialis and the adductors, where the femoral vein comes to lie behind it and the saphenous nerve crosses in front.

Its branches near the groin are small superficial vessels: the superficial epigastric to the lower abdominal wall, the superficial circumflex iliac running laterally towards the iliac spine, and superficial and deep external pudendal arteries that run medially. A few centimetres below the ligament it gives the large deep femoral artery, which with its circumflex and perforating branches supplies most of the thigh muscles and the hip. Near its end, in the adductor canal, it gives the descending genicular artery to the knee. Clinicians call the part above the profunda the common femoral artery and the part below it the superficial femoral artery, although the femoral vein running beside that lower segment is still a deep vein.

The femoral pulse is felt at the mid-inguinal point, and this is the usual site for passing catheters into the arterial system to reach the heart, brain, kidneys or limbs, and for sampling arterial blood when other pulses are weak. The superficial femoral segment is often narrowed or blocked by atherosclerosis, causing calf pain on walking; angioplasty, stenting, endarterectomy or bypass may be needed.

Course and supply

Arises from

Continues from the external iliac artery as it passes behind the inguinal ligament at the mid-inguinal point.

Ends in

Becomes the popliteal artery at the adductor hiatus in adductor magnus, where the middle third of the thigh meets the lower third.

Supplies

The main supply of the lower limb: through its own branches the lower abdominal wall skin, the groin and the knee, and through the deep femoral artery most of the thigh; it continues as the popliteal artery to the leg and foot.