title: Intramuscular Martin-Gruber anastomosis.
abstract: The incidence and morphology of the intramuscular Martin-Gruber anastomosis are presented based on the study of 118 human cadavers (55 male, 63 female). The Martin-Gruber anastomosis was found in 25 (21.2%) of the 118 cadavers. It occurred in 11 (20%) of the 55 male cadavers (4 bilateral, 7 unilateral; 5 left and 2 right) and in 14 (22.2%) of the 63 female cadavers (2 bilateral, 12 unilateral; 8 left and 4 right). Therefore, the Martin-Gruber anastomosis was found in 31 (13.1%) of the 236 upper limbs. According to a recent classification (Rodríguez-Niedenführ et al., 2000), pattern I was found in 29 cases (93.5%), corresponding to Type A in 13 (41.9%), Type B in 3 (9.7%) and Type C in 13 (41.9%), whereas pattern II was found in 2 cases (6.5%), both being a duplication of Type IC. Intramuscular Martin-Gruber anastomosis was a single anastomosis that originated in all cases from the anterior interosseous nerve (pattern IC) and then passed through a muscle bundle of the flexor digitorum profundus and behind the ulnar artery to join the ulnar nerve as a single connecting branch. It did not send branches to the flexor digitorum profundus. This intramuscular course was observed in 3 of the 13 cases of Type C anastomosis (23.1%) or 3 cases out of 31 Martin-Gruber anastomoses (10%).
authors.affiliation: Unit of Anatomy and Embryology, School of Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Niedenführ
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vazquez
authors.forename: Bartolome
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Parkin
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nearn
authors.forename: Jose R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sañudo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004210:Dissection; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000294:innervation / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000294:innervation / Q000473:pathology*; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000151:congenital* / Q000473:pathology*; D009421:Nervous System Malformations / Q000473:pathology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology*; D014459:Ulnar Nerve / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology*