innominate artery

This is the first and widest of the three branches of the aorta, the others being the left common carotid artery and the left subclavian artery. The innominate artery begins opposite the center of the manubrium sterni, passes upward and to the right, and ends in the neck, behind the upper border of the right sterno-clavicular joint, by dividing into the right common carotid and the right subclavian arteries. As a rule it has no other branches, but occasionally a small artery, called the thyroidea ima, springs from it.

Relations of the innominate artery

Anterior to the innominate artery, there are the manubrium sterni, the right sterno-clavicular joint, and the left innominate vein, The trachea is behind its lower part, but as the artery passes upward and to the right it gains the side of the trachea and has the upper part of the right lung and pleura behind it. The right innominate vein is on its right side and separates it from the right phrenic nerve and the pleura.

Related category

• ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

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