Lateral thoracic artery

Arteria thoracica lateralis

Definition

The lateral thoracic artery (a. thoracalis lateralis; long thoracic artery; external mammary artery) follows the lower border of the Pectoralis minor to the side of the chest, supplying the Serratus anterior and the Pectoralis, and sending branches across the axilla to the axillary glands and Subscapularis; it anastomoses with the internal mammary, subscapular, and intercostal arteries, and with the pectoral branch of the thoracoacromial.

In the female it supplies a lateral mammary branch which turns round the free edge of the Pectoralis major and supplies the mamma.

This definition incorporates text from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy (20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1918 – from http://www.bartleby.com/107/).

Comparative anatomy in animals

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