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Descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery: anatomy, location and function

This is the long branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery that runs down the front of the thigh. It supplies the vastus lateralis and other quadriceps muscles and the knee region.

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Structures

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Highlighted in the model: Descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery at a glance

What it is
This is the long branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery that runs down the front of the thigh.
Location
It arises from the lateral circumflex femoral artery, descends on vastus lateralis with the nerve to vastus lateralis and reaches the knee, where it joins the genicular anastomosis.
Function
It supplies the vastus lateralis and other quadriceps muscles and the knee region.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA21422 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Structures next to the descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery (FMA21422). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.