An atypical outsized lateral circumflex femoral artery and its clinical implications

The knowledge on the arterial variations of the lower extremity is extremely important for the vascular surgeons and the interventional radiologists. These variations may not endanger the life of the patients and they are usually subclinical and are found only during surgeries, autopsies and dissections. These variations may be the sources of bleeding at times. The variations which involve the femoral, profunda femoris and the circumflex femoral arteries are important in vascular reconstructive surgeries, in surgical interventions for embolism, catheterization procedures and in raising skin grafts with pedicles. The variations of the lateral circumflex femoral artery are very much useful in making the anterolateral thigh flaps. Hence, here we are reporting a rare case of an unusual size of the lateral circumflex femoral artery which arose from the femoral artery.The lateral circumflex femoral artery did not pass between the two divisions of the femoral nerve, its branches and termination were found to be normal.