Anatomical Variations Of Brachial Plexus In The Arm

Abstract

Background and Objectives : Brachial plexus is responsible for cutaneous and muscular innervation of most of the upper limb. Gross anatomical knowledge of the nerves like origin, course branches and distribution are of vital importance. Most brachial plexus injuries result in severe dysfunction of arm and hand. The anatomical variations of the brachial plexus constitute a potentially important clinical and surgical issue. Even though many studies have taken place involving major nerves of brachial plexus, they are still far from complete. The present study was done with the aim to study the formation of brachial plexus and find out various anomalies in the arm. Methods : The study was carried out on 60 upper limb specimens (30right, 30 left) obtained during the course of dissection from undergraduate students in the department of Anatomy at BLDEA’s Shri B.M. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Bijapur. The five major nerves were selected from the cords of brachial plexus and there origin, course and distribution with respect to each nerve was studied in the arm. The nerves include – musculocutaneous nerve, median nerve, ulnar nerve, radial nerve and axillary nerve. Results : After detail study of the above nerves following results were obtained. 1. Communication between musculocutaneous and median nerves in eleven limbs. x 2. Musculocutaneous nerve was absent in one limb. 3. Median nerve supplied muscles of front of arm in one limb. 4. Musculocutaneous nerve did not pierce coracobrachialis muscle in seven limbs. 5. Communication between radial and ulnar nerve in one limb. Conclusion : The anatomical knowledge of the nerves is essential for assessing the functional loss and planned reconstructive surgeries. Knowledge of the variation that are observed in our study are important to neurologists, orthopaedicians and traumatologists as these may give rise to variable clinical picture