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Arteries - Internal Iliac & Branches
Internal iliac artery
- Branches course within the pelvis to carry oxygenated blood to the pelvic viscera and musculoskeletal structures, the gluteal and medial thigh regions, and the perineum.
Divisions:
Anterior division
- Umbilical artery, which becomes patent after birth.
- Superior vesicular artery, which travels to the urinary bladder.
- Obturator artery, which travels through the obturator canal of the pelvis.
- Inferior vesicular/Vaginal artery, which serves reproductive structures,
- Uterine artery, which, in females, travels to the uterus.
- Middle rectal artery, which travels to the rectum.
- Internal pudendal artery, which supplies the external genitalia.
- Inferior gluteal artery, which exits the pelvis to travel to the gluteal muscles of the posterior hip.
Posterior division
- Iliolumbar artery, which, as its name suggests, travels along the ilium and lumbar vertebrae.
- Lateral sacral arteries, which travel along the sacrum.
- Superior gluteal artery, which exits the pelvis to serve the gluteal muscles.
Clinical correlation:
Blood loss from post-partum uterine hemorrhage can be so great as to be life-threatening, so surgeons are trained to seek out and ligate (tie off) the anterior division of the internal iliac artery to stop the blood loss. Ligation may be temporary, or permanent; ischemia of the pelvic viscera is uncommon, due to collateral arterial supply.