Morphometric analysis of palmaris longus muscle belly and its tendon: a cadaveric study in north india

ABSTRACT

Background: The Palmaris Longus Muscle is the first option in tendon graft procedures, for it fulfills the necessarycriteria of length, breadth and easy surgical accessibility. Therefore, the present study was performed with thepurpose to determine the morphometry of PL in North Indian population.Materials and methods: Material for the present study consisted of 40 limbs of different age group andsex(28Males&12Females). The limbs were made available in the Anatomy department for dissection purpose atSGRDIMSAR, Amritsar, Punjab. The length and width of the PL-Muscle Belly(PL-MB) and PL-Tendon(PL-T) weremeasured with the help of digital Vernier caliper. The unpaired t test was used to study the significance of thedifferences in male and females and right and left PLM.Results: The mean MBL and MBW of the PL was more (6.195+1.788cm & 2.095+0.723cm) on right side than(5.895+1.748cm & 1.920+0.740cm) on the left side. The mean TL on left side (15.690+1.336cm) was slightly morethan the right side (15.625+1.489cm) whereas TW on right side (0.435+0.099cm) was found to be slightly morethan the left side (0.426+0.108cm). It was also observed that the mean MBL, MBW, TL and TW was more in malecadavers as compared to female cadavers.Conclusion: PLM has importance in medical clinic, surgery, radiological analysis and has great significancewhen used as a donor tendon in reconstructive surgeries. Thus there are advantages to know the length and widthof the PL tendon for being the ideal choice for tendon graft procedures.