SUMMARY

We present a case of an anomalous branching of the axillary artery, combined from two vari-ants with mutual linkage, concerning the pos-terior circumflex humeral and profunda brachii arteries. A female cadaver axillary fossa was dissected and the combined variant exposed. The first variant represented a case of the posterior circumflex humeral artery run-ning not within the humerotricipital triangle but branching more distally, turning under the tendon of the latissimus dorsi and teres major muscles and supplying its usual area around the glenohumeral joint. It resembled an anomalously enlarged deltoid branch of the profunda brachii artery. The second variant affected the profunda brachii artery (deep artery of arm) which did not stem from the brachial artery either, but from the posterior circumflex humeral one, not featuring a con-sistent state, but being replaced by three smaller branches, corresponding to its text-book terminal branches (medial and radial col-lateral artery and muscular branch for triceps brachii muscle). This variant is quite rare (1.25%) as reported in the only literature source available: Adachi 1928 – 4.3%. This variant is important in the case of the collateral circulation because it reduces the number of collateral interconnections and increases the danger of the development of ischaemia in cases of an arterial occlusion