Transverse cervical artery

It has been suggested that this article should be dorsal scapular artery. (discuss ) (June 2022)

The transverse cervical artery (transverse artery of neck or transversa colli artery) is an artery in the neck and a branch of the thyrocervical trunk, running at a higher level than the suprascapular artery.

Structure

It passes transversely below 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

• Superficial branch
  • Ascending branch
  • Descending branch (also known as
    trapezius
    )
• Deep branch (also called the
  dorsal scapular artery). Descending branch in older literature. Most often, however, this artery branches directly from the subclavian artery
  .

The dorsal scapular artery (or descending scapular artery[3]) is a blood vessel which supplies the

It most frequently arises from the subclavian artery (the second or third part),^[3] but a quarter of the time it arises from the transverse cervical artery.^[5] In that case, the artery is also known as the deep branch of the transverse cervical artery, and the junction of those two is called cervicodorsal trunk.

It passes beneath the

It anastomoses with the suprascapular and circumflex scapular arteries.

Additional images

• 
  Superficial dissection of the right side of the neck, showing the carotid and subclavian arteries
• 
  The

  dorsal scapular artery

  , sometimes a branch from the transverse cervical artery

References