The brachiocephalic artery (or brachiocephalic trunk or innominate

Innominate

Innominate can refer to:*The brachiocephalic artery*The brachiocephalic veins*The three large bones which form the hip bone*An innominate contract, a contract not of a type regulated by law...

 artery) is an artery

Artery

Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries....

 of the mediastinum

Mediastinum

The mediastinum is a non-delineated group of structures in the thorax, surrounded by loose connective tissue. It is the central compartment of the thoracic cavity...

 that supplies blood to the right arm

Arm

In human anatomy, the arm is the part of the upper limb between the shoulder and the elbow joints. In other animals, the term arm can also be used for analogous structures, such as one of the paired forelimbs of a four-legged animal or the arms of cephalopods...

 and the head

Head

In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do....

 and neck

Neck

The neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The adjective signifying "of the neck" is cervical .-Boner anatomy: The cervical spine:The cervical portion of the human spine comprises seven boney...

.

It is the first branch of the aortic arch

Aorta

The aorta is the largest artery in the body, originating from the left ventricle of the heart and extending down to the abdomen, where it branches off into two smaller arteries...

, and soon after it emerges, the brachiocephalic artery divides into the right common carotid artery

Common carotid artery

In human anatomy, the common carotid artery is an artery that supplies the head and neck with oxygenated blood; it divides in the neck to form the external and internal carotid arteries. - Structure :...

 and the right subclavian artery

Subclavian artery

In human anatomy, the subclavian arteries are two major arteries of the upper thorax , below the clavicle . They receive blood from the top of the aorta...

.

There is no brachiocephalic artery for the left side of the body. The left common carotid, and the left subclavian artery, come directly off the aortic arch. However, there are two brachiocephalic vein

Brachiocephalic vein

The left and right brachiocephalic veins in the upper chest are formed by the union of each corresponding internal jugular vein and subclavian vein...

s.

Origin

It arises, on a level with the upper border of the second right costal cartilage, from the commencement of the arch of the aorta, on a plane anterior to the origin of the left carotid; it ascends obliquely upward, backward, and to the right to the level of the upper border of the right sternoclavicular articulation, where it divides into the right common carotid and right subclavian

Subclavian

In general, Subclavian means beneath the clavicle, and it can refer to:* Subclavian vein* Subclavian artery* Subclavian nerve...

 arteries.

In infants, it often divides cephalad to the sternoclavicular articulation, within the anterior triangle of the neck.

Branches

The innominate artery usually gives off no branches, but occasionally a small branch, the thyreoidea ima, arises from it. Other times, it gives off a thymic or bronchial branch.

The thyreoidea ima (a. thyreoidea ima) ascends in front of the trachea to the lower part of the thyroid gland, which it supplies.

It varies greatly in size, and appears to compensate for deficiency or absence of one of the other thyroid vessels. It occasionally arises from the aorta

Aorta

The aorta is the largest artery in the body, originating from the left ventricle of the heart and extending down to the abdomen, where it branches off into two smaller arteries...

, the right common carotid, the subclavian

Subclavian

In general, Subclavian means beneath the clavicle, and it can refer to:* Subclavian vein* Subclavian artery* Subclavian nerve...

 or the internal mammary.