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Two arterial variations of the hand and wrist present bilaterally (persistent median artery and superficial dorsal branch of the radial artery): ultrasound findings

  • Anatomic Variations
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Abstract

Purpose

Arterial variations of the upper limb may bear high importance for many clinical procedures, including the use of flaps in plastic surgery. We present a feasible way for visualization and confirmation of presence of these variations.

Methods

All variations were detected by ultrasonography and confirmed by Color Doppler Imaging. Proper documentation was taken in order to present our findings.

Results

We report a case of a 19-year-old female who showed two concomitant arterial variations of the forearm and the hand bilaterally. These two variations were the persistent median artery and the superficial dorsal branch of the radial artery which both significantly contributed to the blood supply of the hand. All examinations were performed by the same investigator and all findings were reviewed by an experienced sonographist.

Conclusion

An unusual arrangement of the arterial system can be easily detected. We present a feasible way to prevent iatrogenic injuries and increase utilization of anatomical variants knowledge in surgery by using ultrasound prior to planning surgical procedures.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Arushi Pandey for helping with our article. Also, we would like to express our highest gratitude to the body donors for their valuable gift to science.

Funding

No financial support was obtained for the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

MB: Project development, Data collection, Data analysis, Manuscript writing. PS: Data collection, Data analysis, Manuscript writing. DK: Project development, Manuscript editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miroslav Belbl.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Charles University (Date 27.1.2021/No. EK-76/21).

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Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 - S1: Right SDRA in the transverse sectio; white arrow – SDRA (JPG 144 KB)

Supplementary file 2S2: Left PMA in the transverse section; red arrow - PMA (JPG 142 KB)

Supplementary file3S3: Left SDRA origin in CDI mode; white arrow - SDRA; green arrow - radial artery (JPG 128 KB)

Supplementary file4S3: Left SDRA origin in CDI mode; white arrow - SDRA; green arrow - radial artery (JPG 128 KB)

Supplementary file5S4: Left SDRA in the transverse section; white arrow - SDRA (JPG 165 KB)

Supplementary file6S5: Course of the right PMA from the middle of the forearm distally (MP4 3453 KB)

Supplementary file7S6: Right SDRA shown in B-mode (MP4 814 KB)

Supplementary file8S7: Right SDRA shown in CDI mode (MP4 430 KB)

Supplementary file9S8: Course of the left PMA from the middle of the forearm distally (MP4 4288 KB)

Supplementary file10S9: Left SDRA shown in B-mode (MP4 2145 KB)

Supplementary file11S10: Left SDRA shown in CDI mode (MP4 6024 KB)

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Belbl, M., Steyerova, P. & Kachlik, D. Two arterial variations of the hand and wrist present bilaterally (persistent median artery and superficial dorsal branch of the radial artery): ultrasound findings. Surg Radiol Anat 46, 85–89 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03262-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03262-0

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