ISO ANATOMY IN A NUTSHELL. 



arises near the end of the femoral divides into a superficial branch which passes 

 with the long saphenous nerve, and adeep branch which runs in front of the 

 tendon of the Adductor magnus to the inner side of the knee-joint, where it 

 anastomoses with the anterior tibial recurrent and the superior internal artic- 

 ular arteries. The profunda artery itself passes behind the superficial femoral 

 vessels od the inner side of the femur and then behind the Adductor longus to 

 pierce the Adductor magnus at the lower third of the thigh. This is sometimes 

 called the fourth perforating branch. The internal circumflex of the profunda 

 passes between the Psoas magnus and the Pectineus to the upper border of the 

 Adductor brevis, at this point it sends one branch inward to the Adductor 

 muscles and another branch downward under the Adductor brevis. The in- 

 ternal circumflex artery itself now passes between the Quadratus femoris and 

 the Adductor magnus to join the crucial anastomosis which is formed by the 



[NTERNAL CIRCUMFLEX ARTERY, THE EXTERNAL CIRCUMFLEX ARTERY and THE 



Si periob perforating all of which are branches of the profunda, and the 

 BCIATIC arter*s which is one of the terminal branches of the anterior trunk of 

 the internal iliac. The external circumflex of the profunda passes outward 

 under the Sartorius and Rectus muscles where it divides into ascending branches, 

 descending branches, transverse branches. The ascending branches run up- 

 ward under the Tensor vagina femoris. The descending branches run under 

 the Rectus as far asthe kneeto enter into the circumpatellar anastomosis. The 

 trans^ erse branches pass outward over the Crureus muscle and through the 

 Vastus externus to the back of the thigh to enter into the crucial anastomosis. 

 This external circumflex artery passes between the anterior and posterior divis- 

 ions of the anterior crural nerve. The three perforating branches of the pro- 

 funda pierce the tendon of the Adductor magnus to reach the back of the thigh. 

 The supeRiob ONE passes above the Adductor brevis to join the crucial anas- 

 tomosis. The middle one pienes the Adductor brevis. The inferior one 

 passes below the Adductor brevis. 



The popliteal artery is a continuation of the femoral and passes through the 

 popliteal space downward and outward. At the lower border of the Popliteus 

 mi scle it gives off the anterior tibial artery and continues as the posterior tibial 

 artery. 



The popliteal space lies b< hind the knee-joint and is diamond shaped. This 



-pace has \ FLOOR, A ROOF, and LATERAL BOUNDARIES. It IS bounded above the 



knee-joinl externally by the Biceps, and below the joint by the Plantaris and 

 the outer h< ad of the Gastrocnemius. It is bounded above the joint internally 

 by the Sen in < 1 1 branosus and below the joint by the inner head of the Gas- 

 trocnemius, lis floor is formed by bones, ligament and muscle. The bones 

 are the femur and tibia, the ligament is the posterior ligament of the knee-joint, 

 and the muscle is the Popliteus. The popliteal artery passes obliquely across 

 the spa< e b< ing surrounded by popliteal nodes, and has the articular branch of 

 the obturator nerve lying upon it. The popliteal veins are superficial and ex- 

 ternal to the artery. An articular filament of the great sciatic nerve is often 

 found deep in this space. The internal popliteal or popliteal nerve crosses all 



