The cruciate anastomosis is an anastomosis in the upper thigh of the inferior gluteal artery

Inferior gluteal artery

The inferior gluteal artery , the larger of the two terminal branches of the anterior trunk of the internal iliac artery, is distributed chiefly to the buttock and back of the thigh....

, the lateral and medial circumflex femoral arteries, and the first perforating artery of the profunda femoris artery. The cruciate anastomosis is clinically relevant because if there is a blockage between the femoral artery and external iliac artery, blood can reach the popliteal artery by means of the anastomosis. The route of blood is through the internal iliac, to the inferior gluteal artery, to a perforating branch of the deep femoral artery, to the lateral circumflex femoral artery, then to its descending branch into the superior lateral genicular artery

Superior lateral genicular artery

-Course:It passes above the lateral condyle of the femur, beneath the tendon of the Biceps femoris.-Branching:It divides into a superficial and a deep branch; the superficial branch supplies the vastus lateralis, and anastomoses with the descending branch of the lateral femoral circumflex and the...

 and thus into the popliteal artery

Popliteal artery

In human anatomy, the popliteal artery is defined as the extension of the "superficial" femoral artery after passing through the adductor canal and adductor hiatus above the knee...

.

Structure

The cruciate anastomosis is so-called because it resembles a cross.
Its four components are:

• inferior gluteal artery
  Inferior gluteal artery
  The inferior gluteal artery , the larger of the two terminal branches of the anterior trunk of the internal iliac artery, is distributed chiefly to the buttock and back of the thigh....
  
  
• lateral circumflex femoral artery
• medial circumflex femoral artery
• ascending branch of first perforating artery from profunda femoris