Epigastric artery
The epigastric artery penetrates (or pierces) the transversalis fascia. The fascia separates the epigastric artery and spermatic cord. It has blood vessels in the lower half (the superficial epigastric vein) which drain the abdomen of blood. Usually it is two veins. They join together and form a single vein which drains in to the external iliac artery near the spermatic cord. The inferior epigastric artery (deep epigastric artery), which starts at the medial (towards the body) part of the external iliac artery, is posterior (behind) the inguinal ligament.
| Identifiers | |
|---|---|
| TH | |
| TE | |
| FMA | |
| Anatomical terminology | |
The inferior epigastric artery gives off (branches to) the cremasteric artery too, and the cremasteric artery also has branches of its own. These are the public branch, and muscular, and cutaneous branches. It supplies cremaster and other coverings of the spermatic cord and other structures, and is joined with the testicular artery. The cremasteric artery (from the inferior epigastric artery) goes with the spermatic cord in males. It is present in females however it is very small. In females it goes with the round ligament. A pubic branch, near the femoral ring, goes down in the body posterior to the pubis and with joins the pubic branch of the obturator artery in both males and females. This helps circulation in the pelvis. Also, the superior and inferior epigastric arteries are important vessels for blood flow, if aortic blood flow is stopped for whatever reason, or when blood supply is low. When this happens it provides blood between the internal thoracic artery and the external iliac artery.
Lastly, sometimes the inferior epigastric artery comes up from the femoral artery. It then ascends (goes up) anterior to (in front of) the femoral vein, but then it follows the normal course across the abdomen. In rare cases it comes up from the external iliac artery (in common with an aberrant obturator artery) or from the obturator artery. The aberrant obturator is the public branch of the inferior epigastric artery when it is larger (and supplies more blood) to the area.