Posterior Circumflex Humeral Artery, Posterior View

Description

Arising from the third part of the axillary artery, the posterior circumflex humeral artery courses posteriorly with the axillary nerve through the quadrangular space, bounded by teres minor superiorly, teres major inferiorly, the long head of triceps medially, and the surgical neck of the humerus laterally. From a posterior shoulder perspective, its characteristic wide sweep wraps around the posterior aspect of the surgical neck deep to the deltoid, sending muscular branches across the posterior deltoid and toward the humeral head. Accompanying venous channels track alongside the arterial arc before draining back toward the axillary vein. Small-caliber arterioles and communicating branches suggest the periscapular and periarticular anastomoses around the glenohumeral joint. Relationship is the point. The posterior circumflex humeral artery’s close association with the axillary nerve makes this corridor clinically concrete in fracture patterns at the surgical neck and during inferior glenohumeral dislocation, where combined vascular and neurologic injury can present as deltoid weakness with compromised posterior humeral head perfusion. Posterior approaches to the shoulder, deep deltoid dissection, and procedures that work near the quadrangular space demand respect for this vessel, since iatrogenic injury can produce brisk bleeding and hematoma beneath the deltoid. Collateral flow from the circumflex humeral and scapular networks also frames why some patients tolerate proximal axillary compromise better than expected. Orthopedic anatomy teaching, sports medicine texts, and surgical atlases for posterior shoulder exposure benefit from this focused rendering of the posterior circumflex humeral artery and its neighboring landmarks. It also fits radiology and interventional content when explaining angiographic patterns, pseudoaneurysm after trauma, or the vascular considerations of shoulder arthroplasty and fracture fixation. Anatomical accuracy verified by SciePro's Medical Advisory Board.