Transverse cervical artery

Artery: Transverse cervical artery
Superficial dissection of the right side of the neck, showing the carotid and subclavian arteries. Transverse cervical artery is labeled, branching from the thyrocervical_trunk.
Superficial and deep branches from the transverse cervical artery.
Latin	arteria transversa cervicis, arteria transversa colli
Gray's	subject #148 82
Supplies	Trapezius Sternocleidomastoid
Source	Thyrocervical trunk
Branches	Superficial branch Deep branch
Vein	Transverse cervical veins

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

Path

It passes transversely above 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 scalene muscles, and in front of or between the divisions of the brachial plexus, and is covered by the platysma and sternocleidomastoid muscles, and crossed by the omohyoid and trapezius.

Branches

The transverse cervical artery splits into two branches, a superficial one and a deep one:

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

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

External links

• SUNY Labs 01:04-0100 – "Muscles of the Back: Spinal Accessory Nerve (CN XI) and Transverse Cervical Vessels"
• SUNY Figs 26:03-04 – "Branches of the first part of the subclavian artery."

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 As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.