The deep palmar arch (deep volar arch) is an arterial network found in the palm. It is usually formed mainly from the terminal part of the radial artery, with the ulnar artery contributing via its deep palmar branch. This is in contrast to the superficial palmar arch, which is formed predominantly by the ulnar artery.
The deep palmar arch lies upon the bases of the metacarpal bones and on the interossei of the hand, being covered by the oblique head of the adductor pollicis muscle, the flexor tendons of the fingers, and the lumbricals of the hand.
Alongside of it, but running in the opposite direction—toward the radial side of the hand—is the deep branch of the ulnar nerve.
The superficial palmar arch is more distally located than the deep palmar arch. If one were to fully extend the thumb and draw a line from the distal border of the thumb across the palm, this would be the level of the superficial palmar arch. The deep palmar arch is about a finger width proximal to this.
From the deep palmar arch emerge palmar metacarpal arteries.
Famous quotes containing the words deep and/or arch:
“The difference between a photograph and even the most realistic painting—say, one of Courbet’s landscapes—is that in the latter there has been selection, emphasis and some discreet distortion. The painter’s deep instinctive feeling for mass and force has rearranged everything.”
—Gerald Branan (1894–1987)
“Concord’s little arch does not span all our fate, nor is what transpires under it law for the universe.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)