Medial pectoral nerve

Nerve: Medial pectoral nerve
Nerves of the left upper extremity. (Medial anterior thoracicvisible in upper right.)
Latin	n. pectoralis medialis
Gray's	subject #210 933
Innervates	pectoralis minor, pectoralis major
From	medial cord

The medial pectoral nerve (medial anterior thoracic) arises from the medial cord of the brachial plexus and through it from the eighth cervical and first thoracic.

It passes behind the first part of the axillary artery, curves forward between the axillary artery and vein, and unites in front of the artery with a filament from the lateral nerve.

It then enters the deep surface of the Pectoralis minor, where it divides into a number of branches, which supply the muscle.

Two or three branches pierce the muscle and end in the Pectoralis major. A mnemonic to differentiate the medial pectoral nerve, which pierces both pectorals, from the lateral pectoral nerve, which pierces only Pectoralis major, is "Lateral Less, Medial More".

See also

• Lateral pectoral nerve

Additional images

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  Brachial plexus

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  Brachial plexus with courses of spinal nerves shown

External links

• SUNY Labs 05:st-0511
• EatonHand ner-016
• MedEd at Loyola GrossAnatomy/dissector/practical/ue/ue15.html
• Medial+pectoral+nerve at eMedicine Dictionary

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.