Drainage Pattern of Craniofacial Veins With Emphasis on its Influence on Facial Reconstruction Procedures.

As the facial transplantation procedures are becoming more popular and frequent in recent years, for repairing facial trauma, variations in the veins of head and neck needs to be reported time and again. This study was undertaken to examine the course and drainage pattern of the facial vein and external jugular vein on this context and emphasize its surgical implications. The authors studied the head and neck region of 50 embalmed cadavers of both sexes to document normal and variant anatomy of facial, retromandibular, and external jugular veins. In 30% of the head and neck regions, different draining pattern of the above-mentioned veins were observed. One of the rare variation discovered was the splitting of the retromandibular vein to embrace the external carotid artery within the parotid gland. The data about variations in the termination of facial vein, retromandibular vein, and external jugular vein, as observed in the present study might be useful in avoiding accidental injury to these vessels during any surgical intervention in the face as well as neck. Level of Evidence: IV.

Variants of latissimus dorsi with a perspective on tendon transfer surgery: an anatomic study.

BACKGROUND: The latissimus dorsi (LD) is often used for tendon transfers to treat massive irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears. The operation requires the LD tendon to be mobilized to reduce tension on the tendon. In that respect, any connection between the LD tendon and contiguous muscles may hamper tendon mobility and affect the surgical outcome. The goal of this study was to document the occurrence of connections between the LD and adjacent muscles and nerves. METHODS: We studied the scapular region on 48 embalmed cadavers. The skin and superficial fascia were removed according to Cunningham's manual of dissection, and the muscle was exposed. RESULTS: It was found that the LD and teres major (TM) muscles are connected by muscle fibers in 10% of the cadavers studied. Another vital discovery was that in some cadavers, the LD tendon was penetrated by a nerve. CONCLUSION: Fascial connections between the LD and TM are well known, but these muscle links are comparatively unusual. From the results of this study, one should pay particular attention to muscle links between the LD and TM during dissection of the LD for transfer. It can also be suggested that during transfer surgery, the LD tendon should be cautiously examined for the possibility of a nerve penetrating it.