Supreme intercostal artery
Arteria intercostalis suprema
A descending branch of the costocervical trunk that crosses the necks of the upper ribs to supply the first two intercostal spaces.
At a glance
- English
- Supreme intercostal artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria intercostalis suprema
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the supreme intercostal artery
The supreme intercostal artery, also called the superior intercostal artery, fills a gap left by the aorta. Because the arch of the aorta lies below the level of the first two intercostal spaces, these spaces take their posterior arteries from the subclavian artery instead, through this vessel.
It begins as one of the two branches of the costocervical trunk, which arises from the back of the subclavian artery and arches backwards over the dome of the pleura. The trunk splits into the deep cervical artery, which passes back to the deep muscles of the neck, and the supreme intercostal artery, which turns down into the thorax.
The artery descends behind the pleura, in front of the necks of the first and second ribs. On the first rib it lies between the sympathetic trunk medially and the ventral ramus of the first thoracic nerve laterally, close to the stellate ganglion. It gives the first and second posterior intercostal arteries into the spaces below those ribs, and may end by joining the third posterior intercostal artery from the aorta.
The vessel is a link between the subclavian and aortic territories. In coarctation of the aorta this route, with the internal thoracic and other intercostal arteries, helps carry blood around the narrowed segment. Surgeons working at the root of the neck or at the apex of the chest, for example on the sympathetic chain or in resecting a cervical rib, need to know where it lies.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- The costocervical trunk of the subclavian artery, which divides into this vessel and the deep cervical artery.
- Ends in
- Ends as the first and second posterior intercostal arteries, sometimes with a further anastomosis with the third posterior intercostal artery.
- Supplies
- Supplies the first two intercostal spaces, with the muscles, skin and spinal branches served by their posterior intercostal arteries.
Anthromica
See the supreme intercostal 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.
