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Descending genicular artery: anatomy, location and function

The descending genicular artery is a branch of the femoral artery that supplies the knee region. It supplies the medial side of the knee and the upper leg skin and joins the genicular anastomosis.

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Highlighted in the model: Descending genicular 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 genicular artery at a glance

What it is
The descending genicular artery is a branch of the femoral artery that supplies the knee region.
Location
It arises from the femoral artery in the adductor canal near the adductor hiatus and divides into a saphenous branch and an articular branch.
Function
It supplies the medial side of the knee and the upper leg skin and joins the genicular anastomosis.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA22508 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Structures next to the descending genicular artery

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Descending genicular artery (FMA22508). 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.