Brachial plexus injury Brachial plexus injury A brachial plexus injury (BPI), also known as brachial plexus lesion, is an injury to the brachial plexus, the network of nerves that conducts signals from the spinal cord to the shoulder, arm and hand. These nerves originate in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth cervical (C5–C8), and first thoracic (T1) spinal nerves, and innervate the muscles and skin of the chest, shoulder, arm and hand. Brachial plexus injuries can occur as a result of shoulder trauma, tumours, or inflammation. The rare Parsonage-Turner Syndrome causes brachial plexus inflammation without obvious injury, but with nevertheless disabling symptoms. But
Transverse cervical artery anastomoses with the deep and dorsal scapular artery which in turn links to the subscapular artery. This anastomosis is a ring circulation around the scapula where it continues to the suprascapular artery via the circumflex scapular artery. The dorsal scapular artery (or descending scapular artery) is a blood vessel which supplies the levator scapulae, rhomboids, and trapezius. It most frequently arises from the subclavian artery (the second or third part), but a quarter of the time it arises from the transverse cervical artery. In that case, the artery is also known as the deep branch of the transverse cervical artery,