Source Internal iliac artery Dorlands/Elsevier a_61/12154415 | ||
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Latin Arteria glutaea inferior | ||
The inferior gluteal artery (sciatic artery), the smaller of the two terminal branches of the anterior trunk of the internal iliac artery, is distributed chiefly to the buttock and back of the thigh.
It passes down on the sacral plexus of nerves and the piriformis muscle, behind the internal pudendal artery, to the lower part of the greater sciatic foramen, through which it escapes from the pelvis between the piriformis and coccygeus.
It then descends in the interval between the greater trochanter of the femur and tuberosity of the ischium, accompanied by the sciatic and posterior femoral cutaneous nerves, and covered by the gluteus maximus, and is continued down the back of the thigh, supplying the skin, and anastomosing with branches of the perforating arteries.