Brachial plexus anatomy: Normal and variant

TheScientificWorldJournal

Volumn 9, Issue , 2009, Pages 300-312

  Orebaugh, Steven L ^a   Williams, Brian A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH MEDICAL CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

Anatomy; Brachial plexus; Imaging; Nerve blockade; Ultrasound

Indexed keywords

ANATOMICAL VARIATION; BRACHIAL PLEXUS; BRACHIAL PLEXUS ANESTHESIA; ECHOGRAPHY; FASCIA; HUMAN; MEDIAN NERVE; PATIENT SAFETY; REGIONAL ANESTHESIA; REVIEW; ULNAR NERVE; ANESTHESIA; CLAVICLE; CONGENITAL MALFORMATION; FEMALE; HISTOLOGY; MALE; METHODOLOGY; NERVE BLOCK;

ANESTHESIA; BRACHIAL PLEXUS; CLAVICLE; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; NERVE BLOCK;

EID: 65649129342     PISSN: None     EISSN: 1537744X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1100/tsw.2009.39     Document Type: Review

References (57)

1. Kerr, A.T. (1918) The brachial plexus of nerves in man, the variations in its formation and branches. Am. J. Anat. 23, 285-395.
2. Bergman, R.A., Thompson, S.A., and Afifi, A.K. (1988) Compendium of Human Anatomic Variation. Urban and Schwarzenberg, Baltimore.
3. Bonnel, F. (1984) Microscopic anatomy of the adult human brachial plexus: an anatomical and histological basis for microsurgery. Microsurgery 5, 107-118.
4. Uysal, I.I., Seker, M., Karabulut, A.K., Buyukmumcu, M., and Ziylan, T. (2003) Brachial plexus variations in human fetuses. Neurosurgery 53, 676-684. (Pubitemid 37055946)
5. Hogan, Q. (2003) Finding nerves is not simple. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 28, 367-371.
6. Moayeri, N., Bigeleisen, P.E., and Groen, G.J. (2008) Quantitative architecture of the brachial plexus and surrounding compartments, and their possible significance for plexus blocks. Anesthesiology 108, 299-304. (Pubitemid 351156740)
7. Demondion, X., Herbinet, P., Boutry, N., Fontaine, C., Francke, J.P., and Cotten, A. (2003) Sonographic mapping of the normal brachial plexus. Am. J. Neuroradiol. 24, 1303-1309. (Pubitemid 37012819)
8. Yang, W.T., Chui, P.T., and Metreweli, C. (1998) Anatomy of the normal brachial plexus revealed by sonography and the role of sonographic guidance in anesthesia of the brachial plexus. Am. J. Roentgenol. 171, 1631-1636.
9. Abrams, M.S., Panzer, O., Atchabahian, A., Horn, J.-L., and Brown, A. (2008) Case report: limitation of local anesthetic spread during ultrasound-guided interscalene block. Description of an anatomic variant with clinical correlation. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 33, 357-359.
10. Neal, J.M., Hebl, J.R., Gerancher, J.C., and Hogan, Q. (2002) Brachial plexus anesthesia: essentials of our current understanding. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 27, 402-428.
11. Thompson, G.E. and Rorie, D.K. (1983) Functional anatomy of the brachial plexus sheaths. Anesthesiology 59, 117-122.
12. Walsh, J.F. (1877) The anatomy of the brachial plexus. Am. J. Med. Sci. 74, 388-399.
13. Cornish, P.B. and Leaper, C. (2006) The sheath of the brachial plexus. Anesthesiology 105, 563-565.
14. Klaastad, O., Smedby, O., Thompson, G.E., Tillung, T., Hol, P.K., Rotnes, J.S., Brodal, P., Breivik, H., Hetland, K.R., and Fosse, E.T. (2002) Distribution of local anesthetic in axillary brachial plexus block. Anesthesiology 96, 1315-1324.
15. Winnie, A.P. (1977) Interscalene brachial plexus block. Anesth. Analg. 49, 455-466.
16. Delaunay, L. and Jochum, D. (2004) Anatomy of the brachial plexus. In Peripheral Nerve Blocks: A Color Atlas. 2nd ed. Chelly, J.E., Ed. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia. pp. 28-38.
17. Hadzic, A. and Vloka, J.D. (2004) Peripheral Nerve Blocks, Principles and Practice. McGraw-Hill, New York.
18. Gebarski, K.S., Glazer, G.M., and Gebarski, S.S. (1982) Brachial plexus: anatomic, radiologic and pathologic correlation using computed tomography. J. Comput. Assist. Tomogr. 6, 1058-1063.
19. Posniak, H.V., Olson, M.C., Dudiak, C.M., Wisniewski, R., and O'Malley, C. (1993) MR imaging of the brachial plexus. Am. J. Roentgenol. 161, 373-379.
20. Chan, V.W. (2003) Applying ultrasound imaging to interscalene brachial plexus block. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 28, 340-343. (Pubitemid 36936259)
21. Perlas, A., Chan, V.W., and Simons, M. (2003) Brachial plexus examination and localization using ultrasound and electrical stimulation. Anesthesiology 99, 429-435. (Pubitemid 36909569)
22. Harry, W.G., Bennett, J.D.C., and Guha, S.C. (1997) Scalene muscles and the brachial plexus. Clin. Anat. 10, 250-252.
23. Natsis, K., Totlis, T., Tsikaras, P., Anastasopoulos, N., Skandalakis, P., and Koebke, J. (2006) Variations of the course of the upper trunk of the brachial plexus and their clinical significance for the thoracic outlet syndrome: a study on 93 cadavers. Am. Surg. 72, 188-192. (Pubitemid 46940767)
24. Kessler, J. and Gray, A.T. (2007) Sonography of scalene muscle anomalies for brachial plexus block. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 32, 172-173. (Pubitemid 46366794)
25. Loukas, M., Kinsella, C.R., Louis, R.G., Gandhi, S., and Curry, B. (2006) Surgical anatomy of the accessory phrenic nerve. Ann. Thorac. Surg. 82, 1870-1875. (Pubitemid 44740014)
26. Greengrass, R., Steele, S., Moretti, G., Grant, S., Klein, S., and Nielsen, K. (2002) Peripheral nerve blocks. In Textbook of Regional Anesthesia. Raj, P.P., Ed. Churchill-Livingstone, New York. pp. 346-348.
27. Koscielniak-Nielsen, Z.J. (2008) Ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks: what are the benefits? Acta Anaesth. Scand. 52, 727-737.
28. Apan, A., Baydar, P., Yylmaz, S., Uz, A., Tekdemir, I., Guney, S., and Elhan, A. (2001) Surface landmarks of brachial plexus: ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging for supraclavicular approach with anatomical correlation. Eur. J. Ultrasound 13, 191-196. (Pubitemid 32551783)
29. Soares, L.G., Brull, R., Lai, J., and Chan, V.W.S. (2007) Eight ball, corner pocket: The optimal needle position for ultrasound-guided supraclavicular block. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 32, 94-95. (Pubitemid 44969598)
30. Raphael, D.T., McIntee, D., Tsuruda, J.S., Colletti, P., and Tatevossian, R. (2005) Frontal slab composite magnetic resonance neurography of the brachial plexus. Anesthesiology 103, 1218-1224.
31. Sauter, A.R., Smith, H.-J., Stubhaug, A., Dodgson, M.S., and Klaasted, O. (2006) Use of magnetic resonance imaging to define the anatomic location closest to all three cords of the infraclavicular brachial plexus. Anesth. Analg. 103, 1574-1576. (Pubitemid 44949232)
32. Sandhu, N.S. and Capan, L.M. (2002) Ultrasound-guided infraclavicular brachial plexus block. Br. J. Anaesth. 89, 254-259. (Pubitemid 34893520)
33. Pandey, S.K. and Shukla, V.K. (2007) Anatomical variations of the cords of the brachial plexus and the median nerve. Clin. Anat. 20, 150-156.
34. Singer, E. (1933) Human brachial plexus united into a single cord. Anat. Rec. 55, 411-419.
35. Rodriguez, J., Taboada, M., Del Rio, S., Barcena, M., and Alvarez, J. (2005) A comparison of four stimulation patterns in axillary block. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 30, 324-328. (Pubitemid 40992857)
36. Retzl, G., Kapral, S., Greher, M., and Mauritz, W. (2001) Ultrasonographic findings of the axillary part of the brachial plexus. Anesth. Analg. 92, 1271-1275. (Pubitemid 32385957)
37. Chan, V.W.S., Perlas, A., McCartney, C.J.L., Brull, R., Xu, D., and Abbas, S. (2007) Ultrasound guidance improves success rate of axillary brachial plexus block. Can. J. Anaesth. 54, 176-182. (Pubitemid 46784257)
38. Stanescu, S., Post, J., Ebraheim, N.A., Bailey, A.S., and Yeasting, R. (1996) Surgical anatomy of the radial nerve in the arm: practical considerations of the branching patterns to the triceps brachii. Orthopedics 19, 311-315. (Pubitemid 26125575)
39. Sia, S., Lepri, A., Magherini, M., Doni, L., Marco, P.D., and Gritti, G. (2005) A comparison of proximal and distal radial nerve motor responses in axillary block using triple stimulation. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 30, 458-463. (Pubitemid 44437088)
40. Schafhalter-Zoppoth, I. and Gray, A.T. (2005) The musculocutaneous nerve: ultrasound appearance for peripheral nerve blockade. Reg. Anesth. Pain Med. 30, 385-390. (Pubitemid 40992866)
41. Race, C.M. and Saldana, M.J. (1991) Anatomic course of the medial cutaneous nerves of the arm. J. Hand Surg. (Am.) 16, 48-52.
42. Masear, V.R., Meyer, R.D., and Pichona, D.R. (1989) Surgical anatomy of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve. J. Hand Surg. (Am.) 14, 267-271.
43. Miller, R.A. (1939) Observations upon the arrangement of the axillary artery and brachial plexus. Am. J. Anat. 64, 143-163.
44. Kutiyanawala, M.A., Stotter, A., and Windle, R. (1998) Anatomical variants during axillary dissection. Br. J. Surg. 85, 393-394.
45. Uglietta, J.P. and Kadir, S. (1989) Arteriographic study of variant arterial anatomy of the upper extremities. Cardiovasc. Intervent. Radiol. 12, 145-148.
46. Bigeleisen, P.E. (2004) The bifid axillary artery. J. Clin. Anesth. 16, 224-225.
47. Cadvar, S., Zeybek, A., and Bayramicli, M. (2000) Rare variation of the axillary artery. Clin. Anat. 13, 66-68.
48. Jacquemin, G., Lemaire, V., Medot, M., and Fissette, J. (2001) Bilateral case of superficial ulnar artery originating from the axillary artery. Surg. Radiol. Anat. 23, 139-143. (Pubitemid 32519564)
49. Sahin, B. and Seelig, L.L. (2000) Arterial, neural and muscular variations in the upper limbs of a single cadaver. Surg. Radiol. Anat. 22, 305-308. (Pubitemid 32000586)
50. Prasada Rao, P.V. and Chaudhary, S.C. (2001) Absence of musculocutaneous nerve: two case reports. Clin. Anat. 14, 31-35. (Pubitemid 32064864)
51. Orebaugh, S.L. and Pennington, S. (2006) Variant location of the musculocutaneous nerve during axillary nerve blockade. J. Clin. Anesth. 18, 541-544. (Pubitemid 44780094)
52. Venieratos, D. and Anagnostopoulou, S. (1998) Classification of communication between the musculocutaneous and median nerves. Clin. Anat. 11, 327-331. (Pubitemid 28388039)
53. Loukas, M. and Aqueelah, H. (2005) Musculocutaneous and median nerve connections within, proximal and distal to the coracobrachialis muscle. Folia Morphol. (Warsz) 64, 101-108. (Pubitemid 40867670)
54. Dupre, L.-J. (1994) Bloc du plexus brachial au canal humeral. Cah. Anesthesiol. 42, 767-769.
55. Bono, C.M., Grossman, M.G., Hochwald, N., and Tornetta, P., III (2002) Radial and axillary nerves: anatomic considerations for humeral fixation. Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. 373, 259-264.
56. Nakatani, T., Tanaka, S., and Mizukami, S. (1998) Anomolous triad of a left-sided inferior vena cava, a retroesophageal right subclavian artery, and bilateral superficial brachial arteries in one individual. Clin. Anat. 11, 112-117. (Pubitemid 28101246)
57. Kawashima, T., Yoshitomi, S., and Ito, M. (2003) Bilateral aberrant biceps brachii muscles with special reference to their common nerve trunks. Okajimas Folia Anat. Jpn. 80, 77-84. (Pubitemid 38406255)