An anatomical study of double brachial arteries – a case reportanterior

Received: 12-Oct-2009 Accepted Date: Jan 21, 2010; Published: 23-Feb-2010

Citation: © IJAV. 2010; 3: 6–8.

This open-access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits reuse, distribution and reproduction of the article, provided that the original work is properly cited and the reuse is restricted to noncommercial purposes. For commercial reuse, contact reprints@pulsus.com

Abstract

Superficial brachial artery is one of the major variations of the arterial pattern in the upper limb. During routine anatomical dissection in our department, we observed a case of unilateral double brachial artery in a formalin-fixed female cadaver. Left axillary artery entered into the anterior region of the arm, where it branched into two brachial arteries – the superficial brachial artery (SBA), which was longer, tortuous and with a smaller caliber, and the brachial artery (BA), which was placed deep and medially. In the cubital fossa, covered with an aponeurosis of the biceps brachii muscle, both brachial arteries were connected with an anastomotic vessel. Under this anastomotic branch, in the forearm, SBA continued as the radial artery, whereas BA continued as the ulnar artery. Variations of the arterial pattern in the upper limb are undoubtedly of interest to the anatomists as well as to the clinicians.