578 DISSECTION OF THE THIGH. 



artery, by which it is conducted to the back of the knee-joint : its termi- 

 nation is seen in the dissection of the popliteal space. 



Dissection. To prepare the profunda artery and its branches, supposing 

 the veins and the fat removed, it will be requisite to follow backwards the 

 internal circumflex artery above the upper border of the adductor brevis, 

 and to trace the perforating branches to the apertures in the adductors 

 near the femur. 



The PROFUNDA (fig. 198, c) is the chief muscular artery of the thigh, 

 and arises from the femoral about one inch and a half below Poupart's 

 ligament (p. 565). At its origin the vessel is placed on the outer side of 

 the parent trunk ; but it is soon directed inwards beneath the femoral ves- 

 sels to the inner side of the femur, and ends at the lower third of the thigh 

 in a small branch that pierces the adductor magnus. 



Where the vessel lies in the triangular space of the thigh it rests on the 

 iliacus muscle. But on the inner side of the femur it is parallel to the 

 femoral artery, though deeper in position ; and it is placed first over the 

 pectineus and adductor brevis, and thence to its termination between the 

 adductors longus and magnus. 



Its branches are numerous to the surrounding muscles on the front and 

 back of the thigh, .and maintain free anastomoses with other vessels of the 

 thigh and leg ; through these communications the blood finds its way to 

 the lower part of the limb when the tube of the chief artery is obliterated 

 either above or below the origin of the profunda. The named branches 

 are these : 



The external circumflex artery (fig. 198, e) has been described in the 

 dissection of the muscles of the front of the thigh (p. 572). 



The internal circumflex branch (fig. 198, c?) arises from the inner and 

 posterior part of the profunda, and turns backwards between the psoas and 

 pectineus, but above the adductor brevis and magnus. Opposite the small 

 trochanter it ends in two branches, which will be seen in the dissection of 

 the buttock (p. 590). It supplies the undermentioned offsets to the inner 

 side of the thigh : 



An articular artery may enter the hip joint through the notch in the 

 acetabulum. 



At the border of the adductor brevis two muscular branches arise : one 

 ascends to the obturator and the superficial adductor muscles ; the other, 

 which is larger, descends with the deep piece of the obturator nerve be- 

 neath the adductor brevis, and ends in this and the largest adductor. 



The perforating branches, three in number, pierce the tendons of some 

 of the adductor muscles close to the linea aspera of the femur : they sup- 

 ply muscles on the back of the thigh, and wind round the thigh-bone to 

 end in the vasti. 



Thejirst (f~) begins opposite the lower border of the pectineus, and per- 

 forates the short and large adductors. 



The second branch (ff) arises below the middle of the adductor brevis, 

 and passes through the same muscles as the preceding: from it a nutritious 

 vessel is supplied to the shaft of the femur. 



The third artery (h~) springs from the deep femoral trunk below the ad- 

 ductor brevis, and is transmitted through the adductor magnus. 



The terminal branch of the profunda (fourth perforating) pierces the 

 adductor magnus near the aperture for the femoral artery. 



Muscular or anastomotic branches (') to the back of the thigh (three 

 or four in number) pass through the adductor magnus at some distance 



