Deep cervical artery
Arteria cervicalis profunda
A branch of the costocervical trunk that climbs the back of the neck among the deep muscles as high as the axis.
At a glance
- English
- Deep cervical artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria cervicalis profunda
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Neck
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the deep cervical artery
The deep cervical artery is a vessel of the back of the neck. In most people it comes from the costocervical trunk, the short stem that leaves the back of the subclavian artery behind scalenus anterior; now and then it arises straight from the subclavian. In development it corresponds to the posterior (dorsal) branch that each intercostal artery sends to the back muscles.
From its origin it turns backwards above the eighth cervical nerve, slipping through the gap that separates the first rib's neck from the C7 transverse process. On reaching the back of the neck it turns upwards and climbs between semispinalis capitis, which lies over it, and semispinalis cervicis beneath, reaching as high as the level of the axis.
During this ascent it feeds semispinalis and the nearby deep muscles of the back of the neck. Near its upper end it joins the deep descending branch of the occipital artery, a branch of the external carotid, and it also links with muscular branches of the vertebral artery. Low in its course it gives a small spinal branch that enters the vertebral canal through the C7–T1 intervertebral foramen.
These links make the deep cervical artery part of a collateral network behind the cervical spine linking the subclavian and carotid systems, which can carry blood round a blocked vertebral or proximal subclavian artery. Its position next to the first rib and lower cervical vertebrae means it is met in posterior neck operations.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- Arises from the costocervical trunk in most people, and occasionally directly from the subclavian artery.
- Ends in
- Ends high in the back of the neck at the level of the axis, joining the deep descending branch of the occipital artery and branches of the vertebral artery.
- Supplies
- Supplies semispinalis capitis, semispinalis cervicis and the neighbouring deep muscles of the back of the neck, and through a spinal branch the lower cervical vertebral canal.
Anthromica
See the deep cervical artery where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
