Fibular artery

Structure

The fibular artery arises from the bifurcation of tibial-fibular trunk into the fibular and posterior tibial arteries in the upper part of the leg proper, just below the knee. It runs towards the foot in the deep posterior compartment of the leg, just medial to the fibula. It supplies a perforating branch to both the lateral and anterior compartments of the leg; it also provides a nutrient artery to the fibula. Some sources claim that the fibular artery arises directly from the posterior tibial artery, but vascular and plastic surgeons note the clinical significance of the tibial-fibular trunk.

The fibular artery is accompanied by small veins (venae comitantes) known as fibular veins.

Branches

Communication branch to anterior tibial artery.

Perforating branch to Anterior lateral malleolar artery.

A calcaneal branch to the lateral part of the calcaneus.

Nomenclature

At one point in its history, both the Greek term perone and the Latin term fibula were competing to describe the smaller bone of the leg. Many of the arteries, veins, nerves, and muscles in the leg are named according to what bone they are near (e.g. tibialis anterior and the tibial nerve are near the tibia). So the artery that runs near the smaller leg bone had two names: the peroneal artery and the fibular artery. The term fibula eventually became the standard name for the bone, but many of the related arteries, muscles, and nerves are still called by the Greek derived name peroneal. The Terminologia Anatomica, the international standard for anatomical nomenclature, states that both fibula and perone derived names are acceptable, but lists the fibula derived names as the preferred terms.

Like fibula, the perone (pronounced pair-uh-knee) means pin of a brooch or buckle.