Internal mammary artery

Internal Mammary Artery

The Internal Mammary Artery (IMA), also known as the Internal Thoracic Artery (ITA), is an artery that supplies the anterior chest wall and the breasts. It is a paired artery, with one running along each side of the sternum, to continue after its bifurcation as the superior epigastric and musculophrenic arteries.

Anatomy

The internal mammary artery arises from the subclavian artery near its origin. It travels down the inside of the anterior chest wall, giving off branches to the chest wall and the breasts. At the level of the sixth intercostal space, it bifurcates into the superior epigastric artery and the musculophrenic artery.

Clinical Significance

The internal mammary artery is of considerable clinical importance. It is often used in coronary artery bypass surgery as the graft of choice due to its superior long-term patency rates compared to saphenous vein grafts. The internal mammary artery is also used in microvascular free flap procedures such as the transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap (TRAM flap) in breast reconstruction surgery.

See Also

• Coronary artery bypass surgery
• Microvascular free flap
• Transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap

External Links

• WikiMD Article on Internal Mammary Artery

Internal mammary artery Resources
Need Help Finding a Doctor? WikiMD's DocFinder can help find general and specialist physicians.	Latest articles Most recent articles Ongoing trials.