Radial artery

Radial artery
Palm of left hand, showing position of skin creases and bones, and surface markings for the volar arches.
Ulnar and radial arteries. Deep view.
Details
Source	brachial artery
Branches	In the forearm: Radial recurrent artery Palmar carpal branch of radial artery Superficial palmar branch of the radial artery. *At the wrist: Dorsal carpal branch of radial artery First dorsal metacarpal artery. *In the hand: Princeps pollicis artery Radialis indicis Deep palmar arch
Vein	radial vein
Identifiers
Latin	Arteria radialis
MeSH	A07.231.114.740
TA	A12.2.09.027
FMA	22730
Anatomical terminology []

In human anatomy, the radial artery is the main artery of the lateral aspect of the forearm.

The radial artery arises from the bifurcation of the brachial artery in the cubital fossa (elbow pit). It runs distally on the anterior part of the forearm. There, it serves as a landmark for the division between the anterior and posterior compartments of the forearm, with the posterior compartment beginning just lateral to the artery. The artery winds laterally around the wrist, passing through the anatomical snuff box and between the heads of the first dorsal interosseous muscle. It passes anteriorly between the heads of the adductor pollicis, and becomes the deep palmar arch, which joins with the deep branch of the ulnar artery.

Along its course, it is accompanied by a similarly named vein, the radial vein.

The named branches of the radial artery may be divided into three groups, corresponding with the three regions in which the vessel is situated.

The radial artery lies superficially in front of the distal end of the radius, between the tendons of the brachioradialis and flexor carpi radialis; it is here that clinician takes the radial pulse. (where it is commonly used to assess the heart rate and cardiac rhythm). Presence of radial pulse was thought to indicate a systolic blood pressure of at least 70 mmHg, as estimated from the 50% percentile, although this was found to generally be an overestimation of a patient's true blood pressure. The radial artery can be less easily felt as it crosses the anatomical snuff box. The radial artery is used for coronary artery bypass grafting and is growing in popularity among cardiac surgeons. Recently, it has been shown to have a superior peri-operative and post-operative course when compared to saphenous vein grafts.