Lower limb
Vessels of the femoral neck
Vasa colli femoris (aa. retinaculares)
- Origin
- Retinacular branches of the medial (and to a lesser degree lateral) circumflex femoral artery, around the femoral neck
- Insertion
- Run beneath the joint capsule along the neck to the head of the femur
- Function
- The only significant blood supply of the femoral head in adults; the artery of the ligament of the head contributes little
- Innervation
- Sympathetic fibres through the accompanying plexus
- Movement & chain
- Stretched and kinked by a displaced neck fracture or a hip dislocation
- Palpation
- Not palpable; perfusion assessed on MRI or bone scintigraphy after fracture
- Clinical
- Avascular necrosis of the head after an intracapsular neck fracture or hip dislocation; Perthes disease in children
- Segmental innervation
- Sympathetic L1-L2
- In clinical practice
- A displaced femoral neck fracture in a young patient is urgent: prompt reduction and fixation limits head necrosis
- Region in the model
- Lower limb