Posterior Branches – Branches of Internal Iliac Artery

00:00 So that's a general overview of what we are looking at.

00:01 But its primarily an unpaired artery that comes from the inferior mesenteric.

00:03 And now let's go on to explore the branches of the internal iliac artery.

00:11 So let's start off, we have got a cartoon here on the screen.

00:15 And we have also got this flow diagram which is showing the high level of complex arterial branches that are coming from the internal iliac.

00:28 If we start with the posterior division, we can see that it is only giving rise to these three branches. And this really can depend on what say text book you use to look out when you revising or what resources; because, most resources will comment on posterior and anterior divisions.

00:45 But not all of them will say the same arteries are found in the anterior or in the posterior division. And I personally don't think it matters.

00:55 I think it's important to understand the arteries and where they have come from, where they go to But the actual specific details, whether it comes from the posterior division or an anterior division I am personally not sure that makes a massive difference. Being able to locate them and say what they supply is the key here really.

01:14 So let's concentrate on the posterior division. We have three important arteries, the iliolumbar artery if we follow the common iliac we then follow the internal iliac, and we have this posterior division here.

01:27 We can see it gives rise to three branches: iliolumbar artery which we can see here.

01:32 A lateral sacral artery which we can see here. And then it terminates by passing out of the pelvis superior to piriformis muscle through the greater sciatic foramen, remember we spoke about that few lectures ago, as the superior gluteal artery. This doesn't actually supply anything in the pelvis It passes out to supply the gluteal region, the musculature in the gluteal region So the posterior division has these three branches: iliolumbar, lateral sacral and superior gluteal. And we can see these branches here.