Trunk vessels (aorta, vena cava, abdominal branches)
Superior phrenic arteries
Arteriae phrenicae superiores
- Origin
- Small paired branches arising from the lower thoracic aorta just above the diaphragm
- Insertion
- Distribute across the superior aspect of the posterior diaphragm
- Function
- Supply the superior surface of the posterior diaphragm, anastomosing with musculophrenic branches
- Innervation
- Thoracic sympathetic plexus
- Movement & chain
- Arterial pulsatile flow
- Palpation
- Not palpated directly
- Clinical
- Collateral systemic pathway in aortic coarctation or thoracic aortic pathology.
- Segmental innervation
- T4-T8 spinal levels
- In clinical practice
- Hemostatic control during diaphragmatic hernia repair
- Region in the model
- Trunk vessels (aorta, vena cava, abdominal branches)