Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Inferior rectal artery
Introduction
The inferior rectal artery (inferior hemorrhoidal artery) is an artery that supplies blood to the rectum.
Structure
Structure
The inferior rectal artery arises from the internal pudendal artery as it passes above the ischial tuberosity.
Piercing the wall of the pudendal canal, it divides into two or three branches which cross the ischioanal fossa, and are distributed to the muscles and integument of the anal region, and send offshoots around the lower edge of the gluteus maximus to the skin of the buttock.
They anastomose with the corresponding vessels of the opposite side, with the superior and middle rectal arteries, and with the perineal artery.
External links
External links
- Template:SUNYAnatomyFigs – “Inferior view of female perineum, branches of the internal pudendal artery.”
- Template:SUNYAnatomyFigs – “Branches of internal pudendal artery in the male perineum.”
- Template:SUNYAnatomyImage
- Template:SUNYAnatomyImage
- Template:NormanAnatomy (Template:NormanAnatomyFig)
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]