“Trifurcation” of femoral artery

Abstract

The present study describes analytically a rare case in which a trifurcation of Femoral Artery in Superficial Femoral Artery, Deep Femoral Artery and Lateral Circumflex Femoral Artery was found during dissection of a cadaver. This variation can be considered as a subdivision of Lateral Circumflex Femoral Artery arising from Femoral Artery (frequency: 15% according to Lipper and Pabst) but diameters of the vessels (Lateral Circumflex Femoral Artery was measured at 0.4 cm, of Deep Femoral Artery at 0.55 cm, Femoral Artery at 1 cm and Superficial Femoral Artery at 0.6 cm) and small distance between origin of Deep Femoral Artery and inguinal ligament indicate instead a true trifurcation rather than a simple subdivision. The anatomic variations of the branching pattern of the femoral region arteries concerning both their origin and course are especially important due to the numerous operations performed in the femoral region that implicate various specialties such as orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, vascular surgery, general surgery and invasive cardiology.