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
Case Reports
. 2022 Oct 7;12(4).
doi: 10.2106/JBJS.CC.22.00424. eCollection 2022 Oct 1.

Persistent Median Artery Thrombosis Causing a Bifid Median Nerve and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Case Report

Meaghan L Barr  1 , Nirbhay S Jain  1 , Paul A Ghareeb  2 , Prosper Benhaim  1   3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Persistent Median Artery Thrombosis Causing a Bifid Median Nerve and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Case Report

Meaghan L Barr et al. JBJS Case Connect. .

Abstract

Case: In this report, we describe a 41-year-old woman with symptoms concerning for acute carpal tunnel syndrome. Operative exploration resulted in resection of an aneurysmal, thrombosed, persistent median artery seen on preoperative imaging and full recovery by the patient.

Conclusion: A persistent median artery is an uncommon congenital hand condition resulting from the failure of the median artery to regress, which can then travel through the carpal tunnel and be associated with a bifid median nerve, irritation of the nerve, and need for surgical exploration if it thromboses, which is rare. This should be considered in patients with acute median nerve compression, without other etiologies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: All authors have no financial interests including products, devices, or drugs associated with this manuscript. There are no commercial associations that might pose or create a conflict of interest with information presented in this submitted manuscript such as consultancies, stock ownership, or patent licensing arrangements. All sources of funds supporting the completion of this manuscript are under the auspices of the University of California Los Angeles. Disclosure: The Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest forms are provided with the online version of the article (http://links.lww.com/JBJSCC/B938).

References

    1. Eid N, Ito Y, Shibata MA, Otsuki Y. Persistent median artery: cadaveric study and review of the literature. Clin Anat. 2011;24(5):627-33.
    1. Walker FO, Cartwright MS, Blocker JN, Arcury TA, Suk JIM, Chen H, Schulz MR, Schultz MR, Grzywacz JG, Mora DC, Quandt SA. Prevalence of bifid median nerves and persistent median arteries and their association with carpal tunnel syndrome in a sample of latino poultry processors and other manual workers. Muscle Nerve. 2013;48(4):539-44.
    1. Akgun AS, Ertan G, Ulus S. Acute carpal tunnel syndrome caused by thrombosed persistent median artery associated with bifurcated median nerve in a pregnant woman. BMJ Case Rep. 2017;2017.
    1. Ata AM, Onat ŞŞ, Özçakar L. Ultrasound imaging for diagnosis and follow-up of persistent median artery thrombosis. Muscle Nerve. 2016;53(1):152-4.
    1. Barfred T, Højlund AP, Bertheussen K. Median artery in carpal tunnel syndrome. J Hand Surg Am. 1985;10(6 pt 1):864-7.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources