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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 634

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 634

the tibial collateral ligament, at the anterior border of which it ascends to the front and medial side of the joint, to supply the upper end of the tibia and the articulation of the knee, anastomosing with the lateral inferior and medial superior genicular arteries. The lateral inferior genicular runs lateralward above the head of the fibula to the front of the knee-joint, passing in its course beneath the lateral head of the Gastrocnemius, the fibular collateral ligament, and the tendon of the Biceps femoris. It ends by dividing into branches, which anastomose with the medial inferior and lateral superior genicular arteries, and with the anterior recurrent tibial artery.


FIG. 552– Circumpatellar anastomosis. (See enlarged image)

The Anastomosis Around the Knee-joint (Fig. 552).—Around and above the patella, and on the contiguous ends of the femur and tibia, is an intricate net-work of vessels forming a superficial and a deep plexus. The superficial plexus is situated between the fascia and skin around about the patella, and forms three well-defined arches: one, above the upper border of the patella, in the loose connective tissue over the Quadriceps femoris; the other two, below the level of the patella, are situated in the fat behind the ligamentum patellæ. The deep plexus, which forms a close net-work of vessels, lies on the lower end of the femur and upper end of the tibia around their articular surfaces, and sends numerous offsets into the interior of the joint. The arteries which form this plexus are the two medial and the two lateral genicular branches of the popliteal, the highest genicular, the descending branch of the lateral femoral circumflex, and the anterior recurrent tibial.
 
6d. The Anterior Tibial Artery
 
  
(A. Tibialis Anterior)


The anterior tibial artery (Fig. 553) commences at the bifurcation of the popliteal, at the lower border of the Popliteus, passes forward between the two heads of the Tibialis