THE CUBITAL RADIAL ARCH AND THE MUSCULAR BRANCHES OF THE RADIAL NERVE IN THE ANTERIOR CUBITAL REGION / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

Fifty adult cadavers have been dissected bilateraly. Judged from our anatomical study, the site of division of the radial nerve into its superficial terminal and posterior interosseous branches is above the lateral humeral epicondyle in 96％. Usually, the brachialis, brachioradialis, and extensor carpi radialis longus and brevis all receive several muscular branches, which stem from different portions of the radial nerve. Muscular branch for ECRB arising from the superficial radial nerve of one side amounts to 25％.Two arcades are found to be situated along the radial side of the anterior cubital region, one being formed from the proximal tendinous margin of the ECRB muscle, and the other from the proximal edge of the superficial portion of the supinator. The lateral half of the ECRB arch, which covers that of the supinator arch, is definite and sharp and is crossed by the posterior interosseous nerve (PIN) obliquely. Its medial half coincides with the corresponding half of the supinator arch, but occassionally they may fuse together. The supinator arch may be divided into loop or circular types, with its longitudinal and transverse diameters of nearly 1～1.2 cm. Those which are tendinous in nature (arcade of Frohse)amount to 18％.There are 28 sides of PIN being compressed by the ECRB arch during passive supination, while 18 sides by the supinator arch (Frohse' arch in 2) during passive pronation. For this reason, in addition to their close relationship and position on the radial side, they are preferred to be combined and named as the cubital radial arch.