Branches of subclavian artery mnemonic

Hello friends,

Today let's memorise the branches of subclavian artery.

The mnemonic is  VITamin 'C ' and 'D'

Here VIT corresponds to branches arising from first part. 

'C' from second part. 

'D' from third part  of subclavian artery.

So from first part:

V - Vertebral

 I - Internal thoracic artery

T - Thyrocervical trunk or Thyroscapulocervical trunk( this makes our task easy to memorize branches of this trunk)

Thyroscapulocervical - Gives  rise to 3 arteries:

Thyro -- Inferior thyroid artery

Scapulo -- suprascapular artery

Cervical - superficial cervical artery.

From second part:

C - Costocervical trunk which gives rise to superior intercostal artery and deep cervical artery.

From third part:

D - Dorsal scapular artery.

Sometimes, instead of superficial cervical and dorsal scapular arteries arising as 2 separate arteries, there is a single branch which arises from 1 st part of subclavian artery that is Transverse cervical artery.

This artery divides into superficial ascending branch and deep descending branch as shown in the flow chart below.

Thanks for reading and do correct me if there is anything wrong.

Madhuri Reddy (Madhu)