Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Princeps Pollicis Artery

The hand has a unique arterial blood supply. The primary source of all the blood in the hand originates from two arteries, the ulnar artery, and the radial artery. The ulnar artery descends toward the hand to form the superficial palmar arch. The radial artery descends toward the hand and forms the deep palmar arch. The superficial palmar arch mainly perfuses the ulnar side of the hand. While the deep palmar arch will predominately perfuse the radial side of the hand, these two arches will provide collateral blood supply to each other.

These palmar arches will branch even further into digital arteries that will perfuse the digits. But the thumb does not receive blood from the digital arteries. The thumb gets a separate artery called the princeps pollicis artery. This artery is a direct branch from the deep palmar arch.