Vessel · Shoulders

Posterior circumflex humeral artery

Arteria circumflexa humeri posterior

The posterior circumflex humeral artery is a branch of the axillary artery that wraps around the back of the surgical neck of the humerus to supply the deltoid and the shoulder joint. It matters chiefly because of the company it keeps: it passes through the quadrangular space with the axillary nerve, so the two are compressed together and injured together — which is why an anterior shoulder dislocation threatens both the nerve supply and part of the blood supply to the shoulder cap.