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In this case report, we describe an adult patient with bilateral congenital absence of the m. flexor pollicis longus (FPL) without any other anomalies or thenar atrophy. The FPL muscle acts to flex the thumb and is innervated by the anterior interosseous nerve. Impaired function of the FPL muscle may have several causes. A bilateral anomaly of the FPL tendon is a rare phenomenon, with only a few cases having been reported. This case report does not only demonstrate the diagnosis of bilateral FPL tendon anomaly by physical examination and magnetic resonance imaging, it also includes the embryological development of the FPL muscle and tendon.

A 53-year-old, woman with microhemorrhages in the brain and spinal cord is described. This patient was initially seen with a reversible oculomotor paresis and hypertension, a year later she developed spinal cord symptoms. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging showed characteristic hypointense lesions in the brain and spinal cord consistent with microhemorrhages. Although the occurrence of microhemorrhages in the brain has been described before, the combination of brain and spinal cord microhemorrhages has not been reported yet. The observations in our patient suggest that microvascular changes related to hypertension are a common cause for these microhemorrhages.