Brachiocephalic artery Brachiocephalic artery The brachiocephalic artery (or brachiocephalic trunk or innominate artery) is an artery of the mediastinum that supplies blood to the right arm and the head and neck. It is the first branch of the aortic arch, and soon after it emerges, the brachiocephalic artery divides into the right common carotid artery and the right subclavian artery. There is no brachiocephalic artery for the left side of the body. The left common carotid, and the left subclavian artery, come directly off the aortic arch. However, there are two brachiocephalic veins. It arises, on a level with the upper border
Subclavian artery subclavian on both sides of the body are the vertebral artery, the internal thoracic artery, the thyrocervical trunk, the costocervical trunk and the dorsal scapular artery, which may branch off the transverse cervical artery which is a branch of the thyrocervical trunk. The subclavian becomes the axillary artery at the lateral border of the first rib. From its origin, the subclavian artery travels laterally, passing between anterior and middle scalene muscles, with the anterior scalene (scalenus anterior) on its anterior side and the middle scalene (scalenus medius) on its posterior. This is in contrast to the subclavian vein, which travels