Internal thoracic artery: sternal branches and their importance in thoracic surgery

In surgical myocardial revascularization using both ITAs occurs a decrease in blood supply to the sternum andit is one of the causes of postoperative mediastinitis. Our study focused the sternal branches, from these ITAs,which are responsible for maintaining blood supply of the sternum after bilateral use of internal thoracic arteryin myocardial revascularization. 60 internal faces of the anterior chest wall were dissected and formaldehydepreserved. The study consisted of 28 females and 32 males, the trunks and their branches were measuredand photographed and statistical tests were applied. The most dissected sternal trunks found in 120 internalthoracic artery were the intercostal/sternal and the perforating/sternal. The preservation of these trunks isneeded to prevent any disorder of the sternum.

Anatomical variations of the occipital artery: relate of two casesc

Due to the great importance of the knowledge about variations occurring in the vascular system to surgeons and professionals who work with imaging, we describe in this article a variation of the origin of the occipital artery. 110 cadavers of male and female individuals had they carotid vascular tree in the region of the neck carefully dissected using loupe magnification and its origin and course were measured as well as a simple diameter. This artery usually branches off from the posterior part of the wall of the external carotid artery at the same level of the facial artery branching however, the two cases presented showed the occipital artery branching off very close to the carotid bifurcation, which characterize it as a trifurcation instead. The occipital artery branching off too close to the carotid bifurcation is a rarity as demonstrated by our results and the its literature is insufficient.

Arteria tiroídea superior: origen, ramas colaterales y glandulares / Superior thyroid artery: origin, collateral and glandular branches

La abundante vascularización de la glándula tiroides y la importancia que adquieren las arterias en los actos quirúrgicos cervicales, nos llevó a desarrollar una investigación detallada sobre el origen de la arteria tiroídea superior y la disposición de sus ramas. Fueron disecadas 110 regiones cervicales derechas e izquierdas de 55 cadáveres formolizados de individuos adultos, de ambos sexos, todos de origen brasileño. La arteria tiroídea superior se originó de la arteria carótida externa en 74 casos (67, 3 por ciento), de la arteria carótida común en 18 (16,4 por ciento), a nivel de la bifurcación carotídea en 17 (15,4 por ciento) y de un tronco tirolinguofacial en 1 (0,9 por ciento). La arteria tiroídea superior emitió 3 ramas colaterales en 52 casos (47,3 por ciento); las ramas más frecuentemente encontradas fueron las siguientes: arteria laríngea superior en 102 regiones (92,7 por ciento), rama cricotiroídea en 99 (90 por ciento) y la rama esternocleidomastoídea en 59 (53,6 por ciento). El número de ramas glandulares fue de 2 o 3 y entre ellas, la anterior se presentó en 67 casos (60,9 por ciento), la rama lateral en 39 (35, 4 por ciento) y la posterior en 38 (34,5 por ciento)