Upper limb
Thyrocervical trunk
Truncus thyrocervicalis
- Origin
- Arises from the anterior aspect of the first part of the subclavian artery
- Insertion
- Divides near the medial border of scalenus anterior into inferior thyroid, suprascapular, and transverse cervical arteries
- Function
- Supplies the thyroid gland, larynx, pharynx, deep neck muscles, and scapular anastomosis
- Innervation
- Sympathetic postganglionic plexus from cervical ganglia
- Movement & chain
- Fixed in the deep root of the neck
- Palpation
- Not palpable through deep cervical soft tissues
- Clinical
- Crucial in thyroid surgery and cervical lymph node dissection; source of collateral flow to shoulder girdle
- Segmental innervation
- C5–C8 vascular roots
- In clinical practice
- Key surgical landmark during total thyroidectomy and parathyroid exploration
- Region in the model
- Upper limb