Dorsal scapular artery

The dorsal scapular artery (or descending scapular artery ) is a blood vessel which supplies the latissimus dorsi, levator scapulae, rhomboids, and trapezius.

It most frequently arises from the subclavian artery (the second or third part), but a quarter of the time it arises from the transverse cervical artery. In that case, the artery is also known as the deep branch of the transverse cervical artery.

It passes beneath the levator scapulae to the medial angle of the scapula, and then descends under the rhomboid muscles along the vertebral border of that bone as far as the inferior angle.