The clinic anatomy of lumbar plexus in the lumbar anterolaterally approach minimally invasive surgery / 中华外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To provide anatomic data for reducing lumbar plexus nerve injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The applied anatomy of lumbar plexus was studied by 15 formaldehyde-preserved cadavers, two groups of sectional images of lumbar segment and three series of virtual chinese human dataset.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Arrangement of the lumbar nerve was regular. From anterior view, lumbar plexus nerve arranged from lateral to medial from L2 to L5; from lateral view, lumbar nerve arrange from ventral to dorsal from L2 to L5. The angle degree between the lumbar nerve and lumbar increased from L1 to L5. The lumbar plexus nerve was revealed to be in close contact with transverse process. By sectional anatomy, all parts of the lumbar plexus nerve were located in the dorsal third of the psoas major. The safety zone of the psoas major to prevent nerve injuries was ventrally 2/3.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Psoas major can be considered as surgery landmark when expose the lateral anterior of lumbar by incising the psoas muscle. Incising the psoas muscle ventral 2/3 can prevent lumbar plexus injury. Transverse process can be considered as landmark for the position of lumbar plexus in operation.</p>