Intercostobrachial nerve

Intercostobrachial nerve
Intercostobrachial nerve
	Nerves of the left upper extremity. (Intercostobrachial nerve visible near top center.)
Details
From	Intercostal nerves #2 and #3
Identifiers
Latin	nervi intercostobrachiales
TA98	A14.2.04.012
TA2	6476
FMA	75486
	Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy [edit on Wikidata]

The intercostobrachial nerve is the name applied to the lateral cutaneous branch of the second intercostal nerve. It arises anterior to the long thoracic nerve. It provides sensory innervation to the skin of the axilla, and a variable region of the medial side of the upper arm.^[1]

Anatomy

The lateral cutaneous branch of the second intercostal nerve does not divide like other intercostal nerves into an anterior and a posterior branch.

Course

It pierces the intercostalis externus muscle and the serratus anterior muscle, crosses the axilla to the medial side of the arm, and joins with a filament from the medial brachial cutaneous nerve. It then pierces the fascia, and supplies the skin of the upper half of the medial and posterior part of the arm, communicating with the posterior brachial cutaneous branch of the radial nerve.

Relations

The size of the intercostobrachial nerve is in inverse relationship to that of the medial brachial cutaneous nerve.

Variation

An additional intercostobrachial nerve is frequently given off from the lateral cutaneous branch of the third intercostal nerves; it supplies filaments to the axilla and medial side of the arm.

Clinical significance

It is often the source of referred cardiac pain.

The intercostobrachial nerve is sometimes divided in axillary node clearance (ANC), such as that done for breast cancer surgery which requires the removal of the axillary nodes. Sensation to the cutaneous region supplied by the nerve is affected.

Additional images

Cutaneous nerves of right upper extremity.
Diagram of segmental distribution of the cutaneous nerves of the right upper extremity.
Innervation

References

^ Sinnatamby, Chummy (2011). Last's Anatomy (12th ed.). p. 61. ISBN 978-0-7295-3752-0.

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 946 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

Anatomy photo:05:st-0505 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Axillary Region: Nerves"
Hand kinesiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center

[:02-1] Sinnatamby, Chummy (2011). Last's Anatomy (12th ed.). p. 61. ISBN 978-0-7295-3752-0.

[1]

v t e Spinal nerves
Cervical	C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 anterior Cervical plexus Brachial plexus posterior Posterior branches of cervical nerves Suboccipital – C1 Greater occipital – C2 Third occipital – C3
Thoracic	T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 anterior Intercostal Intercostobrachial – T2 Thoraco-abdominal nerves – T7–T11 Subcostal – T12 posterior Posterior branches of thoracic nerves
Lumbar	L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 anterior Lumbar plexus Lumbosacral trunk posterior Posterior branches of the lumbar nerves Superior cluneal L1–L3
Sacral	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 anterior Sacral plexus posterior Posterior branches of sacral nerves Medial cluneal nerves
Coccygeal	anterior Coccygeal plexus posterior Posterior branch of coccygeal nerve