Origin of the dorsal scapular artery and its relation to the brachial plexus in Thais

Abstract

We investigated the variations of the origin of the dorsal scapular artery (DSA) and its relation to the brachial plexus in 252 sides of the posterior cervical triangles of Thais. The origin of this artery on each part of the subclavian artery or other arterial branches was examined with special reference to their course in relation to the brachial plexus. The results show that the DSA originated from three sites; most commonly from the transverse cervical artery (69%) followed by the direct branching from the second (2.8%) or the third part (28.2%) of the subclavian artery. When the DSA was branched from the transverse cervical artery, its course was always posterior or above the brachial plexus. When the DSA arose from the second or the third part of the subclavian artery, it always ran in the branches of the brachial plexus in various sites. The most frequent course was to pass between the upper and middle trunks of the brachial plexus (63.2%). Other courses were far less frequent and found to pass between the anterior division of the upper trunk and the middle trunk of brachial plexus or between the roots of C8 and T1 with the frequency of 1.3 and 2.6%, respectively.

Arterial Variations Within the Lateral Cervical Region: A Multidetector CT Angiography Study

“…The origin of DScA was reported usually CDT or SCA, however the most common site may change among the ethnicities. Chaijaroonkhanarak et al and Komada et al found the DScA mostly arose from CDT in Thais and Japanese, nevertheless Reiner & Kasser (1996) reported the DScA mostly from SCA (Sato et al, 2012;Chaijaroonkhanarak et al). Additionally Weiglein et al reported other possible sites like CST, CDST, IMA and costocervical trunk for DScA origin.…”

“…The arterial anatomy and variations within the lateral cervical region are well documented in postmortem studies (Chaijaroonkhanarak et al, 2014;Weiglein et al, 2015). Three arteries [suprascapular artery (SSA), superficial cervical artery (SpCA), dorsal scapular artery (DScA)] may be used for flap harvesting lies within this region.…”

Nerves of the Upper Extremity

“…When the dorsal scapular artery arises directly from the subclavian artery (31% of specimens, Chaijaroonkhanarak et al 2014;69%, Huelke 1958;75%, Reiner and Kasser 1996), it pierced the brachial plexus. When the dorsal scapular artery arose from the thyrocervical trunk, which is the other origin (23% of specimens, Reiner and Kasser 1996;30%, Huelke 1958;69%, Chaijaroonkhanarak et al 2014) the dorsal scapular artery passed over the brachial plexus and did not pierce between the nerves.…”

“…When the dorsal scapular artery arose from the thyrocervical trunk, which is the other origin (23% of specimens, Reiner and Kasser 1996;30%, Huelke 1958;69%, Chaijaroonkhanarak et al 2014) the dorsal scapular artery passed over the brachial plexus and did not pierce between the nerves. The most common location of the dorsal scapular artery to pierce the brachial plexus is between the upper and middle trunks (46% of specimens, Huelke 1958; 63%, Chaijaroonkhanarak et al 2014;69%, Reiner and Kasser 1996). Between the middle and lower trunks is the second most common location (18% of specimens, Chaijaroonkhanarak et al 2014;31%, Reiner and Kasser 1996;44%, Huelke 1958) where the dorsal scapular artery pierced the brachial plexus ( Fig.…”

“…The most common location of the dorsal scapular artery to pierce the brachial plexus is between the upper and middle trunks (46% of specimens, Huelke 1958; 63%, Chaijaroonkhanarak et al 2014;69%, Reiner and Kasser 1996). Between the middle and lower trunks is the second most common location (18% of specimens, Chaijaroonkhanarak et al 2014;31%, Reiner and Kasser 1996;44%, Huelke 1958) where the dorsal scapular artery pierced the brachial plexus ( Fig. 91.5).…”