Subscapular artery

Artery: Subscapular artery
Axillary artery and its branches, including subscapular artery - anterior view of right upper limb and thorax.
The scapular and circumflex arteries.
Latin	arteria subscapularis
Gray's	subject #149 588
Supplies	Latissimus dorsi
Source	Axillary artery
Branches	circumflex scapular artery, thoracodorsal artery

The subscapular artery, the largest branch of the axillary artery, arises at the lower border of the Subscapularis muscle, which it follows to the inferior angle of the scapula, where it anastomoses with the lateral thoracic and intercostal arteries and with the descending branch of the transverse cervical, and ends in the neighboring muscles.

About 4 cm. from its origin it gives off two branches, first the scapular circumflex artery and then the thoracodorsal artery.

External links

• Illustration at microsurgeon.org
• Photo at mvm.ed.ac.uk
• Subscapular+artery at eMedicine Dictionary
• lesson3axillaryart&vein at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University)

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 As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.