Superior medial genicular artery

Artery: Superior medial genicular artery
The femoral artery. (Medial sup. genicular labeled at bottom right.)
Circumpatellar anastomosis. (Medial superior genicular labeled at upper right, fourth from top.)
Latin	arteria superior medialis genus
Gray's	subject #159 633
Branches	Branch to vastus medialis, branch to surface of the femur and the knee-joint

The medial superior genicular runs in front of the Semimembranosus and Semitendinosus, above the medial head of the Gastrocnemius, and passes beneath the tendon of the Adductor magnus.

It divides into two branches, one of which supplies the vastus medialis, anastomosing with the highest genicular and medial inferior genicular arteries; the other ramifies close to the surface of the femur, supplying it and the knee-joint, and anastomosing with the lateral superior genicular artery.

The medial superior genicular artery is frequently of small size, a condition, which is associated with an increase in the size of the highest genicular.

Gallery

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See also

• Patellar anastomosis

External links

• superior+medial+genicular+artery at eMedicine Dictionary

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.