Thyrocervical trunk

The thyrocervical trunk is a short artery of the neck. It arises from the subclavian artery, then promptly divides into its branches: the inferior thyroid artery, suprascapular artery, and (sometimes) the transverse cervical artery.

Its branches explain the alternative name for this blood vessel: "truncus thyrobicervicoscapularis".

Structure
The thyrocervical trunk is short and thick.

Origin
The thyrocervical trunk is a branch of the subclavian artery. It arises from (the anterior aspect of) the first portion of this vessel, close to the medial border of the anterior scalene muscle; between the origin of the subclavian artery and the inner border of the scalenus anterior muscle.

Relations
It is located distally to the vertebral artery and proximally to the costocervical trunk.

Branches
The thyrocervical trunk promplty divides into its branches: The suprascapular artery and transverse cervical artery both head laterally and cross in front of (anterior to) the scalenus anterior muscle and the phrenic nerve. The inferior thyroid artery runs superiorly from the thyrocervical trunk to the inferior portion of the thyroid gland. There is significant variation in the origin of these vessels.
 * Inferior thyroid artery.
 * Suprascapular artery
 * Transverse cervical artery This is present in about 1/3 of cases. In the rest, the dorsal scapular and superficial cervical arteries arise separately.