Inferior vesical artery
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Inferior_vesical_artery".

Artery: Inferior vesical artery
The arteries of the pelvis.
Same picture, showing the source of inferior vesical artery, the internal iliac artery, with other branches.
Latin	arteria vesicalis inferior
Gray's	subject #155 615
Supplies	Prostate, seminal vesicle, urinary bladder, vas deferens
Source	Internal iliac artery
Vein	Vesical venous plexus
Dorlands / Elsevier	a_61/12156518

The inferior vesical artery is an artery in the pelvis that supplies the lower part of the bladder.

Structure

The inferior vesical artery is a branch (direct or indirect) of the anterior division of the internal iliac artery. It frequently arises in common with the middle rectal artery, and is distributed to the fundus of the bladder. In males, it also supplies the prostate and the seminal vesicles. The branches to the prostate communicate with the corresponding vessels of the opposite side.

Sex

Some texts consider it to be found only in males, and cite the vaginal artery as the homologous structure in females.^[1]

Other texts consider it to be present in both males and females.^[2] In these contexts, the inferior vesical artery in females is a small branch of a vaginal artery.

See also

• Superior vesical artery

References

External links

• Inferior+vesical+artery at eMedicine Dictionary
• Norman/Georgetown pelvis (pelvicarteries)

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