*Correspondence to: Chernet Bahru Tessema, Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota, USA
Received: Jul 22, 2024; Accepted: Jul 29, 2024; Published: Aug 05, 2024
Citation: Tessema CB (2024) Unusual Multiple and Bilateral Combinations of Arterial and Neural Variations in the Axillae of Single Cadaver. J Anatomical Variation and Clinical Case Report 2:109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61309/javccr.1000109
Copyright: ©2024 Tessema CB. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
ABSTRACT
Nerve During the dissection of the axillae and upper limbs of an 80-year-old male donor, multiple vascular and neural variations were encountered. On the right side, the thoracoacromial artery and the lateral thoracic artery were absent. On the left side the subscapular artery was absent, and the posterior cord of the brachial plexus gave branch to two upper subscapular nerves and then divided into radial nerve and a common stem that branched into thoracodorsal nerve, lower subscapular nerve, nerves to teres major and minor muscles and the axillary nerve. Additionally, in the left arm there was a variant communication between the musculocutaneous nerve and the median nerve. Although the existence of these variations is well documented in the literature as individual entities or few combinations, the occurrence of such multiple variations in a single cadaver in a limited area of the body involving vessel and nerves is not common. A multitude of variations in a small area of the body such as this can be a source of diagnostic and imaging interpretation errors. Unpredictable iatrogenic injuries can also occur during various procedures in the area such as during preparation of muscle flap, mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection, reconstructive and aesthetic plastic surgery of the breast and other clinical procedures including shoulder arthroplasty.
Keywords: Thoracoacromial artery; Subscapular artery; Lateral thoracic artery; Subscapular nerves; Axillary nerve; Musculocutaneous nerve; Median nerve
Figure 1: Right axilla: A) Demonstrates the absence of TAA and LTA in the second part of the right AA and shows the three branches representative of TAA branches arising directly from the superior aspect of the 2nd part of AA and the SST from the 3rd part of AA. B) Illustrates the SST as it descends between the axillary and radial nerves with its branches that include branches to teres major and subscapularis muscles, CSA, and the common stem for TDA and LTA. ACHA = anterior circumflex humeral artery, PCHA = posterior circumflex humeral artery, SSN = suprascapular nerve.
