Quick Facts
Origin: Radial artery.
Course: Distally through thenar muscles along palmar surface of the hand.
Branches: Palmar metacarpal arteries.
Supplied Structures: Hypothenar and interossei muscles, palmar region of metacarpals and digits.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The deep palmar arch is the terminal branch of the radial artery. The arch is completed by anastomosis with the deep palmar branch of the ulnar artery.
Course
The deep palmar arch begins at the lateral aspect of the base of the second metacarpal, near the first dorsal interosseous muscle. It courses in a medial direction, deep to the oblique head of the adductor pollicis, tendons of flexor digitorum, and lumbrical muscles. It joins the deep palmar branch of the ulnar artery, which completes the deep palmar arch. The deep palmar arch sits approximately 1cm proximal to the superficial palmar arch (Standring, 2016).
Branches
The deep palmar arch gives off the palmar metacarpal arteries, which unite with corresponding branches from the superficial arch and form the common palmar digital arteries. It also gives off the perforating branches, which course distally along the metacarpals and anastomose with the dorsal metacarpal arteries at the base of the metacarpals (Tubbs, Shoja and Loukas, 2016).
Supplied Structures
The deep palmar arch supplies the hypothenar, opponens pollicis, and the interossei muscles, and palmar aspect of the metacarpal and digits (Standring, 2016).
List of Clinical Correlates
- Allen’s test
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edn.: Elsevier Limited.
Tubbs, R. S., Shoja, M. M. and Loukas, M. (2016) Bergman's Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation. Wiley.
