48 - Unilateral Variation in the Brachial Artery: High-origin Common Interosseous Artery and Presence of Superficial Ulnar Artery

Poster Board Number: 48
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Co-authors:

Tonimarie Catalan - University of Michigan; Isabel Hermsmeyer - University of Michigan; Abigail Rankin - University of Michigan; Abbey Todd - University of Michigan; Mary Orczykowski - University of Michigan

Abstract Body : Introduction and Objective

Here we report a unilateral variation of the brachial artery found through human anatomical dissection. While variation in the upper limb vasculature is common, this specific branching pattern has not been recorded to our knowledge. The brachial artery is a significant artery in the upper limb and having awareness of this variation has significant clinical and educational implications.

Resources

Anatomical variation was found in a 91-year-old male donor, who was dissected during a human anatomy dissection lab at the University of Michigan.

Description

The variation is in the anatomical donor’s right upper limb. In this case, the axillary artery transitioned to the brachial artery at the teres major muscle, which then gave off the deep brachial artery before bifurcating 6.8 cm distal to teres major.

One branch (a proposed continuation of the brachial artery) ran medially within the arm for 17.4 cm and terminated as the radial and superficial ulnar arteries within the cubital fossa. The superficial ulnar artery coursed superficial to the pronator teres muscle. Distally, the radial and superficial ulnar arteries ran the typical course into the hand and contributed to the superficial and deep palmar arches.

The second branch (a proposed high-origin common interosseous artery) ran laterally and paralleled the continuation of the brachial artery within the arm. The common interosseous artery gave off muscular branches to biceps brachii and brachialis muscles, then a recurrent artery. The common interosseous artery terminated after a 23.2 cm course into the anterior and posterior interosseous arteries. Distally, the anterior and posterior interosseous arteries regressed within the forearm.

Significance/Implication

The superficial position of the radial and ulnar arteries make them more vulnerable to injury, along with misinterpretation of them as veins, which may be life threatening during drug injection. Further, the nature of this variation may lead to iatrogenic injury during surgical procedures and venous cannulations. There are no current procedures to detect if individuals hold this variation. Further research needs to be conducted to investigate possible methods to test for vascular variation.