1. BILATERAL VARIANTS OF THE SUPERFICIAL PALMAR ARCH.
- Author
-
Sen, A. and Somayaji, S. N.
- Subjects
- *
PALM (Anatomy) , *HAND surgery , *ARTERIES , *SURGEONS ,THUMB surgery - Abstract
Introduction: Knowledge of the vascular patterns of the hand has gained more importance with improvements in microsurgical techniques in reconstructive hand surgery. During routine dissection of the hand of a male cadaver we had observed a novel variation of the Group I type of Superficial Palmar Arch (SPA) in the left hand and a variation of the arterial supply of the right thumb forming a unique arterial circle at its base. Such unique arterial variations on both the hands, to our knowledge have not been reported so far. Case Report: The left ulnar artery after giving off the deep branch continued as the SPA with normal branches but gave arteria radialis indicis and princeps pollicis branches. The arteria princeps pollicis was uniquely tortuous at its beginning and was supplemented by the 1st dorsal metacarpal branch of the radial artery at the wrist. The thinned out terminal part of the SPA supplied the thenar muscles to compensate the absence of the superficial palmar branch from the radial artery. The right SPA had usual branches in the palm, but its terminal part anastomosed with an enlarged superficial palmar branch of the radial artery which also furnished princeps pollicis and radialis indicis branches. The princeps pollicis branch was joined by an unusual supplementary branch from the 1st dorsal metacarpal artery thereby constructing a unique arterial circle at the base of the thumb. Conclusion: Thus the left SPA was completed by the 1st dorsal metacarpal artery at the base of the left thumb forming a novel subtype of Group I Type of SPA and indicating a classic ulnar dominance. Arterial circle at the base of the right thumb is a special source of information for vascular surgeons harvesting radial arteries (which could be regarded as a safe with the presence of collaterals around the thumb) and while performing arterial interventions including radial artery cannulation, for plastic surgeons in forming radial forearm flaps and orthopaedicians in thumb surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007