RESUMO
Objective To analyze the normal anatomy and variation of arteries around ankles in Chinese adults in and around Shaanxi province. Methods Aged 18-82 (48±15) years, 522 males and 557 females who came to Xijing Hospital for medical treatment or for a healthy check were randomly recruited to participate in this study. Their arteries around ankles were assessed by high-frequency color Doppler ultrasound. Then the anatomy and variation of the arteries were analyzed. Results There were totally 213 arterial variations in 175 subjects, including variations at single ankle in 137 subjects and variations at both sides in 38 subjects. The rate of arterial variation at ankle in persons was 16.2%(175/1 079) and was higher in females than that in males (21.5%, 120/557,χ2=24.028, P=0.000). The rate of arterial variation at ankle in limbs was 9.9%(213/2 158). There was no signiifcant difference for the rate of arterial variation between the left (5.1%, 109/2 158) and right (4.8%, 104/2 158) ankles (χ2=0.129, P=0.701). In variations of arteries at ankles, there were 131 cases with small posterior tibial arteries and peroneal arteries extending to the bottoms of feet, i.e., posterior tibial arteries substituted by peroneal arteries (typeⅠ, 6.1%, 131/2 158), 69 cases with small anterior tibial arteries and peroneal arteries extending to the dorsums of feet, i.e., anterior tibial arteries substituted by peroneal arteries (typeⅡ, 3.2%, 69/2 158), and 13 cases with both small anterior and posterior tibial arteries, and peroneal arteries extending to both the dorsums and bottoms of feet, i.e., both anterior and posterior tibial arteries substituted by peroneal arteries (typeⅢ, 0.6%, 13/2 158). There was no signiifcant difference in each type of variation rates between left and right sides. The rates of typeⅠvariation were 6.0%(65/1 079) and 6.1%(66/1 079) at the left and right ankles respectively (χ2=0.010, P=0.928);the rates of typeⅡvariation were 3.6%(39/1 079) and 2.8%(30/1 079) at the left and right ankles respectively (χ2=1.213, P=0.271);the rates of typeⅢvariation were 0.5%(5/1 079) and 0.7%(8/1 079) at the left and right ankles respectively (χ2=0.697, P=0.404). Conclusions Ultrasound can be used to depict anatomy and variation arteries around ankles. There is a high prevalence of anatomic variation of ankle arteries in population in and around Shaanxi province. Therefore it will be helpful for diagnosis vascular abnormalities with the knowledge of characteristics of normal anatomy and variation of ankle arteries.