Surgical and radiologic anatomy : SRA
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An injection of a local anesthetics in the paravertebral region produces an analgesic field on the same side of the body, a paravertebral block. One point in question about this block is whether the local anesthetic spreads from the thoracic to the lumbar level of the paravertebral region. The purpose of this study was to find how the anesthetic fluid traveled to the lumbar paravertebral region, if at all. ⋯ We concluded that the dye in the thoracic paravertebral region can enter the abdominal cavity through the medial and lateral arcuate ligaments. This study explained possible fluid communication between the thoracic and lumbar paravertebral regions and confirmed our former clinical observations. The result is important for the future clinical application of paravertebral anesthesia.
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Chronic pain on the ventral surface of the scrotum and the proximal ventro-medial surface of the thigh especially in athletes has been diagnosed in various ways; recently, in Europe the concept of "sports hernia" has been advocated. However, since few reports discuss the detailed course of the nerves in association with the pain, we examined the cutaneous branches in the inguinal region in 54 halves of 27 adult male cadavers. From our results, in addition to the cutaneous branches from the ilioinguinal n. (in 49 of 54: 90.7%), cutaneous branches originating from the genital branches of the genitofemoral nerve were found in the inguinal region in 19 of 54 halves (35.2%). ⋯ In 6 cases the genital branch pierced the inguinal lig. to enter the inguinal canal, and in three cases the genital branch pierced the border between the ligament and the aponeurosis of the obliquus externus m. to be distributed to the inguinal region. Therefore, the courses of the genital branches vary considerably, and may have a very important role in chronic groin pain produced by groin hernia. In addition, entrapment by the ligament may be a reasonable candidate for the cause of chronic groin pain.
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Twenty adult cadaveric cervical spines were sectioned longitudinally through the midline to display longitudinal sections of the vertebral bodies and disc spaces from C3 to T1. Computer-assisted anatomic images were obtained for measurements of the disc spaces and vertebral bodies. Anteroposterior (AP) depth gradually increased from 16.56 +/- 2.21 mm at C3 to 19.32 +/- 2.30 mm at C7. ⋯ The mid-axis of the disc space was situated at approximately 3 mm above the anterior midpoint of the annulus fibrosus at the level of the lower cervical spine. To reach the posterior portion of the disc space from the anterior midpoint of the annulus fibrosus, a 5 degrees cephalad angulation of the drill relative to the mid-axis of the disc space is necessary. All these original data from cadavers may be helpful during anterior approach for discectomy, vertebrectomy and anterior screw-plate placement.
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The present study was carried out on 30 cadavers (5 fresh, 20 preserved adult and 5 fresh stillborn) following injection of red latex through the subclavian and common iliac arteries. The blood supply to the peripheral nerves was studied in general, together with the vascular pedicles to the ulnar, saphenous, sural, deep and superficial peroneal nerves, and the superficial branch of the radial nerve. The nutrient arteries supplying the peripheral nerves came from either the adjacent axial artery or the fasciocutaneous or muscular arteries. ⋯ The superficial branch of the radial n. might be suitable for vascularized nerve grafting, but this is difficult in practice since the radial artery is a major limb artery. The saphenous nerve had a dominant arterial pedicles in all the cadavers dissected and could be the most suitable as a donor vascularized nerve graft, unlike the sural nerve which did not have a dominant arterial pedicle in two-thirds of the specimens. The deep and superficial peroneal nerves may also be unsuitable since the former is accompanied by a major limb vessel while the latter had a dominant vascular pedicle that accompanied the nerve for only a short distance in 10% of the dissected cadavers.