BLOOD-SUPPLY OF THE GREATER TROCHANTER AFTER TROCHANTEROTOMY

The human vascular anatomy to the greater trochanter after a trochante rotomy (digastric, standard) was examined using injection techniques, Three major sources of blood supply to the greater trochanter were fou nd: the proximal soft tissues, including the gluteus medius and minimu s vascularized mainly from the internal iliac artery system; the dista l soft tissues, including the vastus lateralis, vascularized from the descending branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery; and a th ird possible source of blood circulation came from the transverse bran ch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery. Many vascular structures from the lateral circumflex femoral artery were concentrated in the an terior half of the vastus lateralis muscle, Perfusion with a latex oxi de mixture and angiography after trochanterotomy proves that by using a digastric trochanterotomy, the transverse and descending branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery to the greater trochanter thus can be preserved. With a standard trochanterotomy, the supply from the transverse and descending branches of the lateral circumflex artery a re lost. These results therefore suggest that a digastric trochanterot omy is superior to a standard trochanterotomy because the blood supply of the trochanter is preserved.