Middle collateral artery
Arteria collateralis media
The posterior terminal branch of the deep artery of the arm, running down within triceps to the network behind the elbow.
At a glance
- English
- Middle collateral artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria collateralis media
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Upper limb
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the middle collateral artery
The middle collateral artery, also called the medial collateral artery, is one of the two vessels into which the deep artery of the arm (profunda brachii) divides on the back of the humerus. The other is the radial collateral artery. Both are given off as the deep artery reaches the lateral part of the radial groove, where it travels with the radial nerve under cover of triceps.
From the point of division the middle collateral artery runs almost straight down the back of the arm. It passes within, or along the deep surface of, the medial head of triceps brachii, staying close to the shaft of the humerus. It is accompanied for part of its course by the branch of the radial nerve that supplies the medial head of triceps and anconeus.
Near the elbow it reaches the area just above the olecranon. There it contributes to the network on the back of the joint by joining the interosseous recurrent artery, which climbs up from the posterior interosseous artery of the forearm, and it also communicates with branches of the inferior ulnar collateral artery that arch across the back of the humerus above the olecranon fossa. Its twigs reach the triceps, the anconeus and the posterior part of the elbow capsule.
Like the other collateral and recurrent vessels at the elbow, it is a small artery that matters because of the circuit it completes. The cubital anastomosis allows blood to bypass the lower brachial artery and reach the forearm if that artery is blocked or injured. Its position along the medial head of triceps is also relevant when the back of the humerus is exposed surgically, for example to fix a fracture of the shaft or lower end of the bone.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- The deep artery of the arm, as its posterior terminal branch on the back of the humerus.
- Ends in
- Ends behind the elbow above the olecranon, anastomosing with the interosseous recurrent artery and branches of the inferior ulnar collateral artery.
- Supplies
- Supplies the medial head of triceps, anconeus and the back of the elbow joint, and contributes to the anastomosis around the elbow.
Anthromica
See the middle collateral 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.
