Urethral artery

Urethral artery
Diagram of the arteries of the penis.
Details
SourceInternal pudendal artery[1] or perineal artery[citation needed]
SuppliesMembranous urethra, glans penis
Identifiers
Latinarteria urethralis
TA98A12.2.15.042
TA24348
FMA20903
Anatomical terminology

The urethral artery arises from the internal pudendal artery a branch of the internal iliac artery. The internal pudendal artery has numerous branches including the artery of the bulb of the penis immediately before the urethral and the dorsal artery of the penis more distally.[2]

In the male, it penetrates the perineal membrane and provides blood to the urethra and nearby erectile tissue to the glans.[3] In the female, the urethral artery serves the analogous structures. Because the female urethra is so much shorter than the male, this structure is often impossible to find on a female cadaver.

  1. ^ Kyung Won, PhD. Chung (2005). Gross Anatomy (Board Review). Hagerstown, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 269. ISBN 0-7817-5309-0.
  2. ^ Netter, F. H. (2006). Atlas of human anatomy. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders/Elsevier.
  3. ^ Drake, R. L., Vogl, W., Mitchell, A. W. M., & Gray, H. (2015). Gray's anatomy for students.