Median sacral artery

Median sacral artery

The abdominal aorta and its branches. (Middle sacral visible at center bottom.)

The arteries of the pelvis. (Middle sacral labeled at upper right.)
Details
Source abdominal aorta
Vein Median sacral vein
Supplies coccyx, lumbar vertebrae, sacrum
Identifiers
Latin arteria sacralis mediana
Dorlands
/Elsevier
a_61/12155748
TA A12.2.12.008
FMA 14757

Anatomical terminology

The median sacral artery (or middle sacral artery) is a small vessel that arises posterior to the abdominal aorta and superior to its bifurcation.

It descends in the middle line in front of the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebræ, the sacrum and coccyx, ending in the glomus coccygeum (coccygeal gland).

Minute branches pass from it, to the posterior surface of the rectum.

On the last lumbar vertebra it anastomoses with the lumbar branch of the iliolumbar artery; in front of the sacrum it anastomoses with the lateral sacral arteries, sending offshoots into the anterior sacral foramina.

It is crossed by the left common iliac vein and accompanied by a pair of venæ comitantes; these unite to form a single vessel that opens into the left common iliac vein.

The median sacral artery is morphologically the direct continuation of the abdominal aorta but is vestgial in man, but large in animals with tails such as the crocodile.

See also

Additional images

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

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