The Morphologic Study of he Superficial Palmar Arch in Korean

Ahn, Jae In; Kang, Eung Shick; Lee, Seung Jin

Abstract

The superficial palmar arch of the hand is formed by the anastomosis of the palmar branch of the radial artery and the distal part of the ulnar artery. The variation of the superficial palmar arch and its branches have been known to occur frequently. There are many reports about the formation of the arch and the branches of it and the incidence of the median artery. These variations of the arch are considerablly valuable in the surgical management of the hand injuries, especially in vascular injury. This study deals with the Korean hands. The author observed the pattern of the superficial palmar arch, the presence of the median artery and the pattern of the common palmar digital arteries and the results are as followings; 1. The superficial palmar arch was complete type in 97.2% and incomplete type in 2.8%, The majority of the complete arch was type 1 and type 2. 2. The median artery was present in 2.8%. 3. The common palmar digital artery was present as type 1 in 65.3% type 2 in 13.9% type 3 in 4.2%, type 4 in 5.5%, type 5 in 6.9% and type 7 in 1.4%.