Superior gluteal artery

At a glance

English

Superior gluteal artery

Latin (TA2)

Arteria glutea superior

System

Artery

Region

Trunk

Side

Paired, left and right

About the superior gluteal artery

Of all the internal iliac branches, the superior gluteal is the biggest, and it is in effect the final stretch of that artery's posterior division. It is a short, wide vessel. Inside the pelvis it runs backwards, passing between the first sacral ventral ramus and the lumbosacral trunk, and then leaves the pelvic cavity through the greater sciatic foramen, emerging in the buttock with piriformis just below it. The superior gluteal nerve and vein accompany it through this gap.

Before it leaves the pelvis it sends small branches to piriformis, obturator internus and iliacus, and a nutrient artery that enters the ilium. As soon as it appears in the gluteal region it splits into two branches. The superficial branch crosses over piriformis and enters the deep surface of gluteus maximus, where it breaks into many vessels. Some feed the muscle and join branches of the inferior gluteal artery; others pass through the tendinous origin of the muscle to the skin over the back of the sacrum and meet dorsal twigs of the lateral sacral arteries.

The deep branch runs forwards beneath gluteus medius and divides almost at once into an upper and a lower division. The upper division keeps to the line of the parent trunk along the top of gluteus minimus towards the anterior superior iliac spine, joining the deep circumflex iliac artery and the upward branch of the lateral circumflex femoral. The lower division crosses gluteus minimus obliquely towards the greater trochanter, supplying the gluteal muscles, sending twigs through gluteus minimus to the hip joint and joining the lateral circumflex femoral artery.

Through these links the artery contributes to the trochanteric anastomosis, a meeting point of internal iliac and femoral branches near the greater trochanter that provides a collateral path around the hip. Because it exits the pelvis in close contact with bone, it can be torn in fractures of the pelvis running through the greater sciatic notch, and it must be guarded when the hip or posterior pelvis is approached surgically.

Course and supply

Arises from

The internal iliac artery: it continues that vessel's posterior division and is its largest branch.

Ends in

Divides above piriformis into a superficial branch for gluteus maximus and a deep branch with upper and lower divisions under gluteus medius.

Supplies

Supplies gluteus maximus, medius and minimus, tensor fasciae latae, piriformis and nearby pelvic muscles, the ilium, the hip joint and the skin over the sacrum.