The obturator artery arises from the anterior trunk of the internal iliac artery. It runs downward and forward along the lateral wail of the pelvis below its brim to the upper part of the obturator foramen. Through the foramen, it passes with its vein and the obturator nerve. It lies between the obturator nerve which is above and in front of it, and the vein which is below and behind it. Like the other branches of the internal iliac artery, it runs in the extraperitoneal fat between the peritoneum and the fascia. It passes out of the pelvis through an opening at the upper part of the obturator foramen. At that point, it usually passes over the upper border of the pelvic fascia and pierces it in order to pass out of the pelvis. Just before reaching the foramen, the obturator vessels and nerve lie in the obturator canal which is formed by the pelvic fascia bridging over the groove in the medial surface of the horizontal ramus of the pubic bone. At this point it is crossed by the ductus deferens. In the pelvis, the obturator artery gives off the iliac, vesical, and pubic branches. After it emerges from the obturator foramen, it divides into an anterior and a posterior branch. The iliac branch is a nutrient artery to the ilium, supplies the psoas and iliacus muscles, and anastomoses with the iliolumbar artery. The vesical branches supply the bladder. The pubic branch passes upward behind the pubis, anastomoses with the pubic branch of the inferior epigastric artery and with the pubic branch of the obturator artery of the other side, and supplies the adjacent structures. Outside of the pelvis, the obturator artery divides into an anterior and a posterior branch which form a circle on the circumference of the obturator membrane. In one of every three cases the obturator artery arises from the inferior epigastric. Sometimes, it arises from both the inferior epigastric and internal iliac.

Arteria obturatoria

Artère obturatrice