Study of anatomical variations of the superficial palmar arch of fetuses in Córdoba, Argentina

Abstract

The blood supply to the hand depends on the superficial palmar arch (SPA) and the deep palmar arch (DPA), both formed by the radial artery (RA) and ulnar artery (CA). According to the description in anatomy textbooks, the superficial palmar arch is formed by the anastomosis between the superficial palmar branch of the radial artery (SPB) and the cubital artery. This is the “normal” version of the SPA. However, during the performed dissections, various types of SPA conformations were observed, different from the “normal or classic” model. When performing the bibliographic search, it was confirmed that there are various anatomical variations described in international literature, which led to deepening this research with a greater number of dissected pieces. Since this study began a few weeks ago, it was not possible to obtain a larger sample to include in this presentation. The objective of this work is to record which are the variations of the constitution of the superficial palmar arch resulting from native fetal anatomical dissections, in this environment, Córdoba, and to serve as a guide for professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of the hand region.

Ten palmar regions were dissected corresponding to five fetuses weighing less than 500 grams, from 16 to 24 weeks, 3 female and 2 male. Microdissection instruments and binocular magnifying glasses were used.

The variations found were: 1 - anastomosis between the ulnar artery and the superficial palmar branch of the radial artery (40%); 2 - ulnar artery as the only structure, without the existence of a superficial palmar arch (40%); 3 - ulnar artery and superficial palmar artery, without forming SPA, nor anastomosing with each other (20%).

Based on these results, it is observed that the “normal or classic” type (40%) of the description in anatomical study books or atlases is less frequent than the sum of the atypical variations found together (60%). Knowing the possible anatomical variations of the superficial palmar arch becomes important in surgical procedures performed on the hand.