The internal iliac artery supplies the walls and viscera of the pelvis, the buttock, the reproductive organs, and the medial compartment of the thigh.

The internal iliac artery arises at the bifurcation of the common iliac artery, opposite the lumbosacral articulation, and, passing downward to the upper margin of the greater sciatic foramen, divides into two large trunks, an anterior and a posterior.

In two-thirds of a large number of cases, the length of the internal iliac varied between 2.25 and 3.4 cm.

The right and left hypogastric arteries in a series of cases often differed in length, but neither seemed constantly to exceed the other.

[citation needed] The circulation after ligature of the internal iliac artery is carried on by the anastomoses of:[8] This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 614 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)