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. 2013;86(4):327-9.
Epub 2013 Nov 6.

A rare variation of the digastric muscle

Manol Kalniev  1 , Dimo Krastev  2 , Nikolay Krastev  1 , Kalin Vidinov  3 , Ludmil Veltchev  4 , Alexander Apostolov  5 , Milka Mileva  2
Affiliations

A rare variation of the digastric muscle

Manol Kalniev et al. Clujul Med. 2013.

Abstract

The digastric muscle is composed by two muscle bellies: an anterior and a posterior, joined by an intermediate tendon. This muscle is situated in the anterior region of the neck. The region between the hyoid bone and the mandible is divided by an anterior belly into two triangles: the submandibular situated laterally and the submental triangle which is located medially. We found that the anatomical variations described in the literature relate mainly to the anterior belly and consist of differences in shape and attachment of the muscle. During routine dissection in February 2013 in the section hall of the Department of Anatomy and Histology in Medical University - Sofia we came across a very interesting variation of the digastric muscle. The digastric muscles that presented anatomical variations were photographed using a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1 camera, with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens. We found out bilateral variation of the digastric muscle in one cadaver. The anterior bellies were very thin and insert to the hyoid bone. Two anterior bellies connect each other and thus they formed a loop. The anatomical variations observed of our study related only to the anterior belly, as previously described by other authors. It is very important to consider the occurrence of the above mentioned variations in the digastric muscle when surgical procedures are performed on the anterior region of the neck.

Keywords: digastric muscle; hyoid bone; neck muscles; variations.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Digastric muscle with bilateral variation. The anterior bellies (caught with tweezers) are very thin and insert to the hyoid bone.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The intermediate tendon of the digastric muscle is covered by the stylohyoid muscle.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mylohyoid muscle is prepared bilateral. It is obviously the absence of the anterior belly of digastric muscle under the mylohyoid. Instead two anterior bellies of digastric are caught to
Figure 4
Figure 4
The anterior bellies of the right and the left digastric muscles insert to the hyoid bone, connect each other and thus way form a loop.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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