medial circumflex femoral artery, an artery that passes medially around the shaft of the femur and near the margin of the adductor brevis, giving off a small branch, which enters the hip joint through the acetabular notch and anastomoses with the acetabular branch of the obturator artery, then divides into two major branches deep to the quadratus femoris muscle. One of these branches ascends to the trochanteric fossa and connects with branches of the gluteal and lateral circumflex femoral arteries. The other branch passes laterally to participate with other arteries to form an anastomotic network of vessels around the hip.
