Variations of the Superficial Brachial Artery in Korean Cadavers

Abstract

The superficial brachial artery (SBA), a branch of the axillary artery, is one of the most common arterial variations in this area. While it is more vulnerable to accidental arterial injection or injury, it could be useful for the nourishment of a medial arm skin free flap. To analyze the relationship between the SBA of axillary origin and segmental variation of the axillary artery, we dissected 304 arms of Korean cadavers. We found an SBA of axillary origin in 12.2% of cadaveric arms. Unilateral occurrence was detected in 16 cadavers and bilateral in 10. SBAs gave rise to radial and ulnar arteries in the cubital fossa (8.9%), continued in the forearm as the radial artery (2.3%), or ended in the upper arm (1.0%). The SBA ended as ulnar artery was not found in any of the cadavers. The bifurcation of the SBA into the radial and ulnar arteries, presence of an SBA that ends in the upper arm, and the lack of continuation as the ulnar artery are characteristics of SBAs in Korean cadavers.

A Typical Branching Pattern of Axillary Artery in a South Indian Cadaver ? A Case Report

“…Type Ib: the superficial brachial artery arose in between the origins of subscapular and circumflex humeral arteries. In type Ic: superficial brachial artery arose from the second part of the axillary artery [5]. The current case is somewhat similar to type Ic as reported by them, the only difference being the continuation of axillary artery as profunda brachii artery in our case.…”

“…The present variation may mislead the radiologists during colour Doppler studies and digital substraction studies. However, the present variation is useful in skin flaps like medial skin free flap Yang [5]. These variations should be given attention to because of their importance in microvascular and reconstruction surgeries.…”

“…Sharma [9] described bilateral presence of superficial brachial artery from the third part of the axillary artery, but in the present case it arose from the second part of the axillary artery [9]. Yang [5] studied the superficial brachial artery in Korean cadavers and classified them into three types. Type I: The superficial brachial artery divided into radial and ulnar arteries in the cubital fossa and the axillary artery became the definitive brachial artery.…”

“…In addition to the above variations, bilateral higher division of the brachial arteries were also observed by Rossi Junior [4]. Variations of the superficial brachial artery were studied by Yang [5]; they found that the division of superficial brachial artery into the radial and ulnar arteries or superficial brachial artery that ended in the arm were the peculiar variations among Korean cadavers [5]. Aughsteen [6] reported bilateral variations in the branching pattern of the brachial arteries [6].…”

High origin of radial artery: a comparative, anatomical and embryological consideration

“…1,10,11 The findings of the present study regarding high origin of radial artery did not correlate with Rodriguez-Baeza et al (1995) who found the origin of radial artery from axillary artery in 10.66%. 12 (Table 1).…”