Variations in sural nerve formation pattern and distribution on the dorsum of the foot

Abstract

The sural nerve, a cutaneous nerve, is clinically important because it is frequently for nerve conduction testing, biopsy, and harvesting for nerve grafts. This nerve exhibits a wide variety of variation in formation, distribution on the dorsum of the foot, and so on, depending on the population observed. In this study, we examined the variation in the sural nerve in 110 Korean cadavers. Of these cadavers, 86.1% of the sural nerves corresponded to type A, where tibial and peroneal components were united to form the sural nerve. These two components most frequently united (65.9%) in the third quarter of the calf, and when the union position was expressed as a ratio to calf length, it corresponded to 0.408 in men and 0.346 in women, with a statistically significant difference. Due to this sexual dimorphism in addition to shorter calf length in females, the length of the sural nerve was shorter in females (male average length: 14.5 ± 4.8 cm; female average length: 11.4 ± 2.9 cm). In terms of distribution of the lateral dorsal cutaneous nerve, the distal continuation of the sural nerve on the dorsum of the foot, it showed variation in association with the superficial peroneal nerve. The innervation of the sural nerve extended most frequently up to the lateral two and a half toes, solely or in conjunction with the superficial peroneal nerve. Obtaining further information regarding sural nerve variation will be useful for various clinical procedures and interpretation of sural nerve conduction results. Clin. Anat. 30:525-532, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Risk of injury to the sural nerve during posterolateral approach to the distal tibia: An ultrasound simulation study

“…The SN runs medially to laterally and contacts the lateral side of the Achilles tendon 6–16 cm proximal to its distal contact with the calcaneus (ACK, 2017; Webb, )]. A concerning fact about the SN is its great anatomic variability, leaving it difficult to predict risk of injury when operating in this region (Jeon, ). Nevertheless, awareness of clinical anatomy helps surgeons while they are operating in area of the SN.…”

The distribution pattern of the dorsal cutaneous nerves of the foot and its clinical implications

“…Type 1 was the most common in these studies similar to the K4 and K6 of Kosinski's classification. Jeon and colleagues [16] in 2017 performed the study of the SN pattern following the previous research of Madhavi and colleagues' [14] classification. Type 3 was the most common by observed type (24.10%) [16].…”

“…Jeon and colleagues [16] in 2017 performed the study of the SN pattern following the previous research of Madhavi and colleagues' [14] classification. Type 3 was the most common by observed type (24.10%) [16]. In 2019, Heo and colleagues [6] clarified the distribution of dorsal cutaneous nerves on the dorsum of the foot, reported the classification of nerve pattern of the sural and DPN into five and four types respectively.…”

Variaciones de inervación del nervio peroneo superficial y sural en la zona distal de la pierna y pie. Estudio anatómico cadavérico

“…Jeong y cols. 17 estudiaron el origen y recorrido del nervio sural en 110 casos y encontraron al nervio sural dando inervación al 5.º, 4.º dedo y cara medial del 3 er dedo en un 53.2 % de casos, y al 5.º y 4.º dedo en un 33.3 % de casos. Todos estos datos hacen pensar que el nervio sural tiene un papel más relevante en la inervación del dorso del pie que el clásicamente descrito y no se limita únicamente a la cara lateral del quinto dedo.…”