Transverse cervical artery
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| Artery: Transverse cervical artery | |
|---|---|
| Superficial dissection of the right side of the neck, showing the carotid and subclavian arteries. Transverse cervical artery is labeled, branching from the thyrocervical_trunk. | |
| Superficial and deep branches from the transverse cervical artery. | |
| Latin | arteria transversa cervicis, arteria transversa colli |
| Gray's | subject #148 82 |
| Source | Thyrocervical trunk |
| Branches | Superficial branch Deep branch |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | a_61/12156407 |
The transverse cervical artery (transverse artery of neck, transversalis colli artery) is a branch of the thyrocervical trunk, running at a higher level than the suprascapular artery; it passes transversely above the inferior belly of the omohyoid muscle to the anterior margin of the trapezius, beneath which it divides into a superficial and a deep branch.
It crosses in front of the phrenic nerve and the scalene muscles, and in front of or between the divisions of the brachial plexus, and is covered by the platysma and sternocleidomastoid muscles, and crossed by the omohyoid and trapezius.
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The transverse cervical artery splits into two branches, a superficial one and a deep one:
- Superficial branch (also known as the superficial cervical artery)
- Deep branch (also called the dorsal scapular artery)
The superficial cervical artery is another name for the superficial branch of transverse cervical artery (ascending branch in older litterature). It ascends beneath the anterior margin of the trapezius, distributing branches to it, and to the neighboring muscles and lymph glands in the neck, and anastomosing with the superficial branch of the descending branch of the occipital artery.
Descending branch in older litterature. It is also known as dorsal scapular artery. Most often, however, this artery branches directly from the subclavius artery.
- SUNY Labs 01:04-0100 - "Muscles of the Back: Spinal Accessory Nerve (CN XI) and Transverse Cervical Vessels"
- SUNY Figs 26:03-04 - "Branches of the first part of the subclavian artery."
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.