Subcostal arteries

Subcostal arteries
Details
Latin arteria subcostalis
Source
thoracic aorta
subcostal vein
Identifiers
Gray's p.601
Dorlands
/Elsevier
a_61/12156049
TA A12.2.11.020
FMA 4613
Anatomical terminology

The subcostal arteries, so named because they lie below the last ribs, constitute the lowest pair of branches derived from the thoracic aorta, and are in series with the intercostal arteries.

Each passes along the lower border of the twelfth rib behind the kidney and in front of the Quadratus lumborum muscle, and is accompanied by the twelfth thoracic nerve.

It then pierces the posterior aponeurosis of the Transversus abdominis, and, passing forward between this muscle and the Internal Oblique, anastomoses with the superior epigastric, lower intercostal, and lumbar arteries.

Each subcostal artery gives off a posterior branch which has a similar distribution to the posterior ramus of an intercostal artery.

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links