Superficial upper limb vasculature and its surgical implications

ABSTRACT

Any kind of anatomical variation whether encountered during cadaveric dissections or routine clinical or surgical procedures needs to be reported and taken into account. This can be quite helpful in planning surgeries accordingly and avoid disastrous complications. During routine cadaveric dissection, authors found a superficial course of arteries of the arm as well as the forearm, unilaterally in one cadaver. In this case, there were two brachial arteries - superficial and deep. Superficial brachial artery terminated into superficial radial and superficial ulnar artery. Deep brachial artery was trifurcated into common interosseous, medial and lateral artery branches. Authors have also discussed the developmental anomaly, which could have led to the observed morphological variation. Superficial vessels can provide large size pedicles for raising flaps for local reconstructive surgeries in the region of axilla, elbow, wrist or hand, or other regions.

KEY WORDS

Artery - brachial - radial - superficial - ulnar

• REFERENCES

• 1 Adachi B. Das arterian system des Japaner (the arterial system of the Japanese). Kyoto 1928; 1: 205-10
• 2 Karlsson S, Niechajev IA. Arterial anatomy of the upper extremity. Acta Radiol Diagn (Stockh) 1982; 23: 115-21
• 3 Chin KJ, Singh K. The superficial ulnar artery – A potential hazard in patients with difficult venous access. Br J Anaesth 2005; 94: 692-3
• 4 Mccormack LJ, Cauldwell EW, Anson BJ. Brachial and antebrachial arterial patterns; a study of 750 extremities. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1953; 96: 43-54
• 5 Rodríguez-Baeza A, Nebot J, Ferreira B, Reina F, Pérez J, Sañudo JR. et al. An anatomical study and ontogenetic explanation of 23 cases with variations in the main pattern of the human brachio-antebrachial arteries. J Anat 1995; 187 (Pt 2): 473-9
• 6 Yalcin B, Kocabiyik N, Yazar F, Kirici Y, Ozan H. Arterial variations of the upper extremities. Anat Sci Int 2006; 81: 62-4
• 7 Manners-Smith T. The limb arteries of primates: Part I. J Anat Physiol 1910; 44 (Pt 3): 271-302
• 8 Keen JA. A study of the arterial variations in the limbs, with special reference to symmetry of vascular patterns. Am J Anat 1961; 108: 245-61
• 9 Funk GF, Valentino J, McCulloch TM, Graham SM, Hoffman HT. Anomalies of forearm vascular anatomy encountered during elevation of the radial forearm flap. Head Neck 1995; 17: 284-92
• 10 Jacquemin G, Lemaire V, Medot M, Fissette J. Bilateral case of superficial ulnar artery originating from axillary artery. Surg Radiol Anat 2001; 23: 139-43