Lower limb
Communicating branch between posterior tibial and femoral arteries
Ramus communicans arteriae tibialis posterioris et arteriae femoralis
- Origin
- Communicating branch between the territory of the femoral artery and that of the posterior tibial artery
- Insertion
- Anastomoses with surrounding branches along the thigh and the popliteal fossa
- Function
- Forms a bypass (collateral circulation) that partly takes over perfusion of the lower leg when a vessel occludes gradually
- Innervation
- Sympathetic fibres through the accompanying plexus
- Movement & chain
- Widens over months as the main channel narrows, which is why claudication develops slowly
- Palpation
- Not separately palpable; imaged with duplex ultrasound or CT angiography
- Clinical
- In acute occlusion there is no time for collaterals to develop: that is the difference between acute ischaemia and slowly developing claudication
- Segmental innervation
- Sympathetic L1-L2
- In clinical practice
- Walking training stimulates exactly these collaterals and is first-line treatment in intermittent claudication
- Region in the model
- Lower limb