Artery Scapular Inferior

The scapular inferior artery is a large arterial branch that originates from the subclavian artery and supplies blood to the humerus and brachialis muscle. Its main function is to provide nutrition to the tissues of the shoulder and arm.

**Anatomical description** The artery begins from the posterior surface of the third rib at the level of the sternoclavicular joint and continues down the anterior surface of the sternoclavicular joint and descends along the posterior surface of the scapula to its middle. At the level of the inferomedial angle of the scapula, the artery gives off one or two muscular branches that go to the posterior edge of the deltoid muscle. Across the base of the scapula, it divides into two trunks. The first trunk lies medially and supplies the mammary gland and the skin covering the shoulder area, the inner part of the deltoid and the lesser supraclavicular region. The second trunk runs along the posterior surface of the subscapularis muscle to the middle of the scapula. It rises upward in front of the ends of the transverse processes of the thoracic vertebrae and lies deep in the groove between the transverse processes and the head of the humerus. In this groove the artery divides into superior and inferior terminal branches. The superior terminal artery (a. terminator superior) passes under the thick fascia along the upper edge of the humerus in the three-layer synovial sheath, and then through the bursa of the greater tubercle of the humerus, where it joins the deep vessels of the shoulder. The lower terminal artery (a terminator inferior) anastomoses with other branches