[Superficial iliac circumflex artery and veins]

Study on the superficial circumflex iliac vascular pedicle. The artery can take its origin separately from the common trunk of the common femoral artery. The decisive element is shown by the variations in course and diameter of the artery, which, in nearly 40% of the cases, seems relatively slender. In thoses cases, the sub cutaneous abdominal artery seems be the essential vascular element. Concerning the veins, they steadily join a principal vein, subjacent to the artery, sometimes doubled by a subordinate vein, satellite of the artery. All these notions incite to some prudence in using flaps that depend for their vascularisation on the superficial circumflex iliac pedicle.