SUBCLAVIAN ARTERY

In human anatomy, the 'subclavian artery' is a major artery of the upper thorax that mainly supplies blood to the head and arms. It is located below the clavicle, hence the name. There is a left subclavian and a right subclavian.

★ On the ''left'' side of the body, the subclavian comes directly off the arch of aorta.

★ On the ''right'' side of the body, the subclavian arises from the relatively short brachiocephalic artery (trunk) when it bifurcates into the subclavian and the right common carotid artery.
The usual branches of the subclavian on both sides of the body are the internal thoracic artery, the vertebral artery, the thyrocervical trunk, and the costocervical trunk. The subclavian becomes the axillary artery at the lateral border of the first rib.

Contents

Course

Branches

Embryology

Additional images

See also

External links

Course

From its origin, the subclavian artery travels laterally, passing between anterior and middle scalene muscles, with the anterior scalene (scalenus anterior) on its anterior side and the middle scalene (scalenus medius) on its posterior. This is in contrast to the subclavian vein, which travels anterior to the scalenus anterior.
As the subclavian artery crosses the border of the first rib, it becomes the axillary artery.

Branches

★ vertebral artery -From 1st part of Subclavian

★ thyrocervical trunk -From 1st part of Subclavian

★ internal thoracic artery-From 1st part of Subclavian

★ costocervical trunk -From 2nd part of the Subclavian

★ dorsal scapular artery- This can emerge from the 3rd part (rarely from the 2nd part) of the Subclavian as its own branch or from the Thyrocervical Artery as a branch of the Transverse Cervical artery.
These may be remembered by the mnemonic 'VIT'amin 'C' and 'D'.
The subclavian artery continues as the axillary artery.

Embryology

Embryologically, the left subclavian simply arises from the left 7th intersegmental artery, while the right subclavian arises, proximal to distal:
# aortic arch IV
# right dorsal aorta (between the 4th and the 7th intersegmental arteries)
# right 7th intersegmental artery

Additional images

See also

★ Aberrant subclavian artery

★ Subclavian steal syndrome

★ Thoracic outlet syndrome

External links

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★ Diagram of branches at informatics.jax.org

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