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Subclavian artery: anatomy, location and function

The major artery to the upper limb, neck and part of the brain. It supplies the upper limb, neck, upper chest wall and part of the brain.

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Structures

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Highlighted in the model: Subclavian artery. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Subclavian artery at a glance

What it is
The major artery to the upper limb, neck and part of the brain.
Location
The right arises from the brachiocephalic trunk and the left directly from the aortic arch. It arches over the first rib behind scalenus anterior and becomes the axillary artery at the lateral border of the first rib. Branches are the vertebral and internal thoracic arteries, the thyrocervical and costocervical trunks, and often the dorsal scapular artery.
Function
It supplies the upper limb, neck, upper chest wall and part of the brain.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA4694 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is divided into three parts by scalenus anterior.
  • Its pulse can be felt above the middle of the clavicle by pressing down toward the first rib.

Clinical relevance

Subclavian steal and thoracic outlet compression involve this artery.

Structures next to the subclavian artery

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Subclavian artery (FMA4694). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.