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The radial artery running over the anatomical snuffbox: a case report

  • Anatomic Variations
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Abstract

Background

The radial artery, a terminal branch of the brachial artery, typically originates at the level of the radial neck. It runs under the cover of the brachioradialis muscle, descending along the lateral side of the forearm with paired accompanying veins and a superficial branch of the radial nerve. The radial artery rewinds around the lateral aspect of the wrist, passing beneath the tendons of the abductor pollicis, extensor pollicis longus, and extensor pollicis brevis. Finally, it crossed the floor of the anatomical snuffbox.

Case report

This case report presents an anatomical variant in which the radial artery runs over the radial fossa, that is, superficially of the tendons of the hand’s abductor pollicis, extensor pollicis longus, and extensor pollicis brevis muscles.

Conclusion

The variation described in this paper sheds light on the possible atypical topographical relationships of the radial artery with the neighboring anatomical structures in the wrist, which can be crucial during hand surgery procedures.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an Institute of Convergence Science (ICONS) grant funded by Yonsei University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division in Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Department of Oral Biology, Human Identification Research Institute, BK21 FOUR Project, Yonsei University College of Dentistry, Seoul, South Korea

    Hyun-Jin Park & Hee-Jin Kim

  2. College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Shihyun Kim

  3. Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Soowan Kim

  4. Department of Anatomy, Research Institute of Medical Science, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Wu-Chul Song

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  1. Hyun-Jin Park
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  2. Shihyun Kim
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Contributions

Conceptualization: HJP and WCS. Data acquisition: HJP and SK. Data analysis or interpretation: HJP and SK. Drafting of the manuscript: HJP and SK. Critical revision of the manuscript: HJK. Approval for the final version of the manuscript: All authors.

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Correspondence to Hee-Jin Kim.

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Park, HJ., Kim, S., Kim, S. et al. The radial artery running over the anatomical snuffbox: a case report. Surg Radiol Anat 44, 659–663 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-022-02944-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-022-02944-5

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