Anomalous muscle from the fascia around popliteal vessels

Abstract

Normally, the popliteal fossa contains popliteal vessels, tibial and common peroneal nerves. An occurrence of muscle in the popliteal fossa is very rare. During routine dissection classes for medical undergraduates, an anomalous muscle in the popliteal fossa was encountered. The muscle was originating from the thick fascia around the popliteal vessels. It was getting inserted to the medial head of the gastrocnemius through a narrow tendon and was supplied by a branch of tibial nerve. The muscle was observed in the right limb and was unilateral. An awareness of the possibility that such anomalous muscles can occur in the popliteal fossa is clinically essential as these may possibly entrap and compress the popliteal vessels. The muscle reported in the present case bears clinical signifi cance since near its origin it almost completely surrounded the popliteal vessels and could pull on these vessels on contraction (Fig. 3, Ref. 14). Full Text in PDF www.elis.sk.

Anatomical and Ultrasound Study of the Mid-Femoral Sciatic Nerve and Its Division

“…The undivided SN penetrates the piriformis in type D. The TN penetrates the piriformis, whereas the CPN runs above it in type E. Finally, the undivided SN runs superiorly to the piriformis muscle in type F (17,18). In addition, some muscle variations in the popliteal region were also described (19,20). It is requisite to be familiar with the possibility that they may cause difficulty in needle insertion.…”