Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jun;4(3):253-8.

Anatomical Variations of Brachial Plexus in Adult Cadavers; A Descriptive Study

Mohammadreza Emamhadi  1 , Shahrokh Yousefzadeh Chabok  1 , Fariborz Samini  1 , Babak Alijani  1 , Hamid Behzadnia  1 , Fariborz Ayati Firozabadi  1 , Zoheir Reihanian  1
Affiliations

Anatomical Variations of Brachial Plexus in Adult Cadavers; A Descriptive Study

Mohammadreza Emamhadi et al. Arch Bone Jt Surg. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Variations of the brachial plexus are common and a better awareness of the variations is of crucial importance to achieve successful results in its surgical procedures. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the anatomical variations of the brachial plexus in adult cadavers.

Methods: Bilateral upper limbs of 32 fresh cadavers (21 males and 11 females) consecutively referred to Guilan legal medicine organization from November 2011 to September 2014, were dissected and the trunks, cords and terminal nerves were evaluated.

Results: Six plexuses were prefixed in origin. The long thoracic nerve pierced the middle scalene muscle in 6 cases in the supra clavicular zone. The suprascapular nerve in 7 plexuses was formed from posterior division of the superior trunk. Five cadavers showed anastomosis between medial brachial cutaneous nerve and T1 root in the infra clavicular zone. Terminal branches variations were the highest wherein the ulnar nerve received a communicating branch from the lateral cord in 3 cases. The median nerve was formed by 2 lateral roots from lateral cord and 1 medial root from the medial cord in 6 cadavers. Some fibers from C7 root came to the musculocutaneous nerve in 8 cadavers.

Conclusion: The correlation analysis between the variations and the demographic features was impossible due to the small sample size. The findings of the present study suggest a meta-analysis to assess the whole reported variations to obtain a proper approach for neurosurgeons.

Keywords: Anatomical variations; Brachial plexus; Cords; Peripheral nerves; Trunks.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Normal Brachial Plexus pattern.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Unusual connection between musculocutaneous nerve and median nerve in arm.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Butz JJ, Shiwlochan DG, Brown KC, Prasad AM, Murlimanju BV, Viswanath S. Bilateral variations of brachial plexus involving the median nerve and lateral cord: an anatomical case study with clinical implications. Australas Med J. 2014;7(5):227–31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Parchand MP, Patil ST. Absence of musculocutaneous nerve with variations in course and distribution of the median nerve. Anat Sci Int. 2013;88(1):58–60. - PubMed
    1. Aydin ME, Kale A, Edizer M, Kopuz C, Demir MT, Corumlu U. Absence of the musculocutaneous nerve together with unusual innervation of the median nerve. Folia Morphol (Warsz) 2006;65(3):228–31. - PubMed
    1. Soleymanha M, Mobayen M, Asadi K, Adeli A, Haghparast-Ghadim-Limudahi Z. Survey of 2582 cases of acute orthopedic trauma. Trauma Mon. 2014;19(4):e16215. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chaudhary P, Singla R, Arora K, Kalsey G. Formation and branching pattern of cords of brachial plexus-a cadaveric study in north Indian population. Int J Ana Res. 2014;2(1):225–33.

LinkOut - more resources