Lower limb · Interactive 3D

Blood supply of the femoral head

The proximal femur seen from behind with the medial femoral circumflex artery winding round the back of the neck and its deep branch giving the retinacular vessels that run up the posterosuperior neck into the femoral head.

Interactive — drag to rotate

Blood supply of the femoral head — still render

AI-assisted model. Labels checked against standard anatomy references; specialist review pending.

What to look at

1The medial femoral circumflex artery (from the profunda femoris) is the main supply of the femoral head in adults. It passes posteriorly, below the neck, near the lesser trochanter.
2Its deep branch ascends behind the neck and gives the retinacular vessels, which run along the posterosuperior neck beneath the synovium to enter the head at the head–neck junction.
3A displaced intracapsular fracture tears these vessels — the reason displaced fractures in older patients are usually replaced rather than fixed.
4The artery of the ligamentum teres (from the obturator artery) adds little in adults, and the lateral femoral circumflex artery mainly supplies the anterior neck.

Hotspots

1Medial femoral circumflex artery — Branch of the profunda femoris; passes posteriorly between iliopsoas and pectineus, then obturator externus and quadratus femoris.
2Ascending deep branch — The deep branch runs up behind the neck — at risk in the posterior approach and in surgical hip dislocation if the external rotators are divided too close.
3Retinacular (posterosuperior) vessels — Run within the capsular retinaculum along the posterosuperior neck and enter the head; torn by displaced intracapsular fractures.
4Femoral head — Mostly supplied by the retinacular vessels in adults.
5Lesser trochanter — Insertion of iliopsoas; the medial circumflex artery passes nearby.
6Greater trochanter — The short external rotators insert around it and the trochanteric fossa.

Read alongside

The femoral triangle and femoral canal: boundaries, contents and femoral hernia

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