Thoraco-acromial artery
Arteria thoracoacromialis
A short arterial trunk from the axillary artery that pierces the clavipectoral fascia and splits into four branches over the front of the shoulder.
At a glance
- English
- Thoraco-acromial artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria thoracoacromialis
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the thoraco-acromial artery
The thoraco-acromial artery is a wide but very short branch of the second part of the axillary artery, the segment that lies behind pectoralis minor. It arises at or just above the upper border of that muscle, curves forwards around it and pierces the clavipectoral fascia, the sheet stretched between pectoralis minor and the clavicle. Almost at once it divides into branches that fan out in different directions.
There are four named branches. The pectoral branch descends between pectoralis major and pectoralis minor, supplying both muscles and the overlying chest wall, and anastomoses with the lateral thoracic and intercostal arteries. The acromial branch passes laterally over the coracoid process, deep to the deltoid, to join the acromial network on the point of the shoulder. The clavicular branch runs upwards and medially to the sternoclavicular joint and subclavius. The deltoid branch follows the deltopectoral groove alongside the cephalic vein, supplying deltoid and pectoralis major.
Several structures pass through the clavipectoral fascia close to the artery: the lateral pectoral nerve, the cephalic vein on its way into the axillary vein, and lymphatic vessels. The veins that accompany the branches usually drain into the axillary vein, some by way of the cephalic vein.
The pectoral branch is the vascular pedicle of the pectoralis major flap, a long-established option for reconstructing defects of the head and neck because the muscle can be swung up on this vessel. Surgeons using the deltopectoral approach to the shoulder meet the deltoid branch in the groove and often coagulate it. The artery also helps form the collateral network around the scapula that can carry blood past a slowly narrowing axillary artery.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- Arises from the second part of the axillary artery, near the upper border of pectoralis minor.
- Ends in
- Divides after piercing the clavipectoral fascia into pectoral, acromial, clavicular and deltoid branches.
- Supplies
- Supplies pectoralis major and minor, the deltoid, subclavius, the sternoclavicular joint and the acromial region.
Anthromica
See the thoraco-acromial 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.
