Perforating branches of plantar metatarsal arteries
Rami perforantes arteriarum metatarsearum plantarium
Short branches that rise from the plantar metatarsal arteries near the toes, passing up between the metatarsals to join the dorsal metatarsal arteries.
At a glance
- English
- Perforating branches of plantar metatarsal arteries
- Latin (TA2)
- Rami perforantes arteriarum metatarsearum plantarium
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Foot
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the perforating branches of plantar metatarsal arteries
The plantar metatarsal arteries arise from the deep plantar arch and run forwards in the sole, one in each space between the metatarsal bones, lying on the interosseous muscles. Near the front of each space, close to the heads of the metatarsals, each gives off a short perforating branch. This branch turns upwards, passes between the metatarsal heads through the front of the intermetatarsal space, and reaches the dorsum of the foot, where it joins the corresponding dorsal metatarsal artery.
They are known as the anterior, or distal, perforating branches, to tell them apart from the posterior perforating branches. Those arise from the deep plantar arch itself and pass up through the back of the second, third and fourth spaces, between the heads of the dorsal interosseous muscles, to the dorsal metatarsal arteries near the bases of the bones.
Together the two sets of perforating branches tie the arteries of the sole to those of the dorsum at both ends of each metatarsal space. The sole is supplied mainly through the posterior tibial artery and its plantar branches, and the dorsum mainly through the dorsalis pedis artery, so these channels let blood from one system reach the toes if the other is narrowed or blocked. Beyond this point the plantar metatarsal arteries become the common plantar digital arteries, which supply the toes.
The branches are small and rarely named in clinical work, but they help to explain why the toes often keep a supply when one of the main foot arteries is damaged, and they lie in the field of operations on the forefoot between the metatarsal heads.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- Arise from the plantar metatarsal arteries near the heads of the metatarsal bones.
- Ends in
- End by joining the dorsal metatarsal arteries on the dorsum of the foot.
- Supplies
- Link the plantar and dorsal arterial systems of the forefoot and supply the tissue between the metatarsal heads.
Anthromica
See the perforating branches of plantar metatarsal arteries where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
