title: Variations in sural nerve formation pattern and distribution on the dorsum of the foot.
abstract: The sural nerve, a cutaneous nerve, is clinically important because it is frequently for nerve conduction testing, biopsy, and harvesting for nerve grafts. This nerve exhibits a wide variety of variation in formation, distribution on the dorsum of the foot, and so on, depending on the population observed. In this study, we examined the variation in the sural nerve in 110 Korean cadavers. Of these cadavers, 86.1% of the sural nerves corresponded to type A, where tibial and peroneal components were united to form the sural nerve. These two components most frequently united (65.9%) in the third quarter of the calf, and when the union position was expressed as a ratio to calf length, it corresponded to 0.408 in men and 0.346 in women, with a statistically significant difference. Due to this sexual dimorphism in addition to shorter calf length in females, the length of the sural nerve was shorter in females (male average length: 14.5 ± 4.8 cm; female average length: 11.4 ± 2.9 cm). In terms of distribution of the lateral dorsal cutaneous nerve, the distal continuation of the sural nerve on the dorsum of the foot, it showed variation in association with the superficial peroneal nerve. The innervation of the sural nerve extended most frequently up to the lateral two and a half toes, solely or in conjunction with the superficial peroneal nerve. Obtaining further information regarding sural nerve variation will be useful for various clinical procedures and interpretation of sural nerve conduction results. Clin. Anat. 30:525-532, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Su Kyoung
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1148-0727
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Doo-Jin
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Paik
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Il
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5777-7983
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000294:innervation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation; D013497:Sural Nerve / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: anatomic variation; cadaver; foot; lateral dorsal cutaneous nerve; sural nerve; toes