Trunk vessels (aorta, vena cava, abdominal branches)
Supreme intercostal artery
Arteria intercostalis suprema
- Origin
- Branch of the costocervical trunk of the subclavian artery
- Insertion
- Descends across the necks of the first two ribs, dividing into the 1st and 2nd posterior intercostal arteries
- Function
- Supplies arterial blood to the upper two intercostal spaces
- Innervation
- Thoracic sympathetic chain
- Movement & chain
- Arterial pulsatile flow
- Palpation
- Not palpated directly
- Clinical
- Major collateral arterial pathway bypassing aortic narrowing in coarctation of the aorta.
- Segmental innervation
- T1-T2 spinal levels
- In clinical practice
- Cardiovascular screening for continuous back bruits in suspected aortic coarctation
- Region in the model
- Trunk vessels (aorta, vena cava, abdominal branches)