Corpus: Transverse cervical artery

The transverse cervical artery is an arterial branch arising from the thyrocervical trunk of the subclavian artery. It is accompanied by the transverse cervical vein.

The transverse cervical artery traverses the lateral triangle of the neck over the lower muscle belly of the omohyoid muscle to the anterior edge of the trapezius muscle. Along this course, it crosses the scalene muscles and the phrenic nerve frontally, passing through the fiber bundles of the brachial plexus covered by the sternocleidomastoid muscle and platysma muscles. In the vicinity of the superior angle of the scapula, it bifurcates into a superficial branch (Ramus superficialis) and a deep branch (Ramus profundus).

2.1. Superficial branch

The superficial branch of the transverse cervical artery is occasionally referred to as the superficial cervical artery. It courses cranially along the anterior edge of the trapezius muscle, giving off some branches to this muscle. It anastomoses with the superficial branches of the descending branch of the occipital artery.

2.2. Deep branch

The deep branch travels on the levator scapulae muscle caudally to the superior angle of the scapula and descends below the rhomboid muscle along the medial border of the scapula to the inferior angle of the bone. There, it anastomoses with the suprascapular artery and the subscapular artery, forming the so-called scapular anastomosis. In 2/3 of cases, this artery originates directly from the subclavian artery as the dorsal scapular artery.

The transverse cervical artery supplies the trapezius muscle, rhomboid muscles, latissimus dorsi muscle, and parts of the cervical lymph nodes.