Radial and Ulnar Arteries

00:01 So, now, let's turn our attention to the radial and ulnar arteries.

00:05 These two arteries are formed by the bifurcation of the brachial artery really within the cubital fossa.

00:10 So, here, we can see the brachial artery giving rise to the radial artery that goes laterally and the ulnar artery which works more medially.

00:19 So, if we stay with the radial artery, now, we can see the radial artery running distally within the lateral aspect of the forearm. Here, we can see the tendon of biceps brachi.

00:30 And if you were just to move away some of that musculature like brachioradialis, we'd see aw recurrent branch that comes off the radial artery.

00:36 So, we could see that passing up and passing all the way up alongside brachioradialis which we can now see reflected.

00:44 So, reflecting brachioradialis revels that radial recurrent artery that is now passing superiorly.

00:50 If we continue following brachioradialis and its associated radial artery, so, reflecting brachioradialis reveals the radial artery, we could see the radial artery is running down.

01:00 Medially, we have flexor carpi radialis tendon and here, we can see pronator quadratus muscle.

01:06 This is an important site for checking for the radial pulse and you can use those tendinous locations of flexor capri radialis to help you locate that blood vessel.

01:17 The radial artery then moves posteriorly onto the dorsal surface of the hand.

01:21 And here, we can see the radial artery now running through the anatomical snuff box which we've mentioned previously, giving rise to some terminal branches.

01:30 And some important terminal branches here, we can see on the dorsal.

01:33 But also, on the palmar aspect, it gives rise to this superficial palmar branch and that helps to form this arterial arch that runs along the palmar surface and helps to anastomose with the ulnar artery. We'll come to that in a moment or two.

01:48 So, now, let's have a look at the ulnar artery which follows a similar course to the radial artery except this time, it's running down the medial aspect of the forearm.

01:56 So, here, we can see pronator teres, and if we remove pronator teres and some of the other superficial muscles, we can start to see the ulnar artery.

02:05 Here, we can see the ulnar artery running alongside flexor digitorum superficialis.

02:10 And again, if you remove that muscle, you could see the course of the ulnar artery running distally.

02:16 Here, we could see flexor digitorum profundus.

02:18 So, we can see parts of the ulnar artery are wedged in between these two important muscles.

02:23 We have flexor capri ulnaris and again, by reflecting that laterally, we'll be able to locate and follow the course of the ulnar artery all the way down towards the wrist.

02:33 So, again, we see flexor carpi ulnaris following the course of the ulnar artery, all the way down as it passes through the transverse carpal ligament.

02:42 This is an important ligament associated with the flexor retinaculum that helps to hold the carpal bones together.

02:48 But here, we see the ulnar artery is now also contributing to that superficial palmar arch that we spoke about when we looked to the radial artery.

02:57 Now, we have this important anastomotic network from the ulnar and the radial arteries supplying the substance of the hand.

03:06 Branches coming off the ulnar artery, here, we can see anterior and posterior recurrent branches.

03:11 So like the radial artery that had a single recurrent branch, the ulnar artery has anterior and posterior versions that pass up to help supply the joint capsule.

03:22 There's also an interosseous artery that passes over the interosseous membrane that helps to supply deep muscles in the anterior and posterior compartment and here, we can see the version of it running along the anterior aspect of the interosseous membrane as the anterior interosseous artery.

03:39 This blood vessel does have quite an interesting course because once it's run along the interosseous membrane, it actually passes into the posterior compartment.

03:46 You could see the small aperture at the bottom and that is at the inferior aspect of the interosseous membrane to further support blood supply running towards the posterior compartment.

03:56 We've looked at a lot of these muscles, a lot of these arteries from the anterior perspective.

04:01 So, it's important to appreciate that there's branches that are sent posteriorly to supply that posterior compartment.

04:07 And here again, we can see another blood vessel passing to the posterior compartment.

04:11 If we now do look at that posterior aspect, you can see how you have the anterior and posterior interosseous arteries forming anastomosis on that posterior surface of the interosseous membrane, supplying itself and also, the deep structures within the anterior and posterior compartments of the forearm.