Diversity of Arterial Branches in the Crural and Foot Region as Correlated with the Relative Thickness of the Fibular and Posterior Tibial Arteries

Abstract

We studied how the course and branching of peripheral arteries are influenced by the diversity of the proximal arteries, taking examples in the leg and foot region. Materials and methods: The arteries in the leg and foot was studied in 18 lower extremities of Japanese cadavers and their diversity was correlated with the relative thickness of fibular and posterior tibial artery. Results: The posterior tibial artery was dominant in 8 cases (PTAD) and the fibular artery was dominant in 10 cases (FAD). The communicating branch between the two arteries was single in 7 cases and multiple in 11 cases. The perforating branch of the fibular artery was large in 4 cases, medium in 6 cases, and small in 8 cases. The large perforating branch was found in FAD group, and the small perforating branch was mainly found in PTAD group. The dorsalis pedis artery was formed mainly by the anterior tibial artery, but by the perforating branch in the cases of thick perforating branches. The anterior lateral malleolar artery was single in 10 cases and multiple in 8 cases. The number of dorsal roots of dorsal metatarsal arteries was 3.3 in the cases of thick perforating branch, 2.2 in medium perforating branch, and 0.6 in small perforating branch. Conclusions: The formation of the dorsalis pedis artery and the number of dorsal roots of the dorsal metatarsal arteries were influenced by the thickness of the perforating branch and thus by the relative thickness of the fibular artery.