Vessel · Shoulders

Axillary artery

Arteria axillaris

The axillary artery is the subclavian artery's continuation through the armpit — the same vessel, renamed as it crosses the outer border of the first rib. It runs through the axilla wrapped in the cords of the brachial plexus, which are named lateral, posterior and medial for their position around it, and gives off the branches that supply the shoulder before becoming the brachial artery at the lower edge of teres major.