Palmaris Longus in Korean

Chung, Moon Sang; Won, Choong Hee; Chang, Bong Soon

Abstract

The Palmaris longus tendon is important not because of its function but because of its usefulness as a donor tendon. Variations in the palmaris longus muscle ar elfrequent and the most common variation of the muscle is its absence. The incidence of absence of this muscle varies in different racial groups. Reinmann and his coworkers found the palmaris longus muscle absent in 12.9% of in their 1,600 limbs surgery. We have experiened 307 cases of palmaris longus graft surgery and found that there were 4 cases of absence of the palmaris longus tendon. We examined 2,000 limbs of Korean to see the presence of the palmaris longus muscle. Among 1,000 persons, the muscle was absent bilaterally in 11 persons(1.1%). It was absent unilaterally in 32 persons(3.2%). The probability that the muscle is absent in any single limb is 2.7%. There was no significant differences in the incidence of absence by sex or right and left side.