Anat Cell Biol.  2021 Sep;54(3):404-406. 10.5115/acb.21.071.

Duplicated transverse cervical nerve and external jugular vein

• Gerard III NO
• Tubbs RS
• Iwanaga J

• KMID: 2521054
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5115/acb.21.071

Abstract

The transverse cervical nerve arises from anterior rami of the second and third cervical spinal nerves via the cervical plexus. We present a case of a left duplicated transverse cervical nerve with a duplicated external jugular vein in a 72-year-old female cadver. The transverse cervical nerve bifurcated into two branches, i.e., superficial and deep branches, lateral to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The superficial branch ran lateral to the duplicated external jugular vein and gave a cutaneous branch to the area below the great auricular nerve and cutaneous branches to the skin of the neck. The deep branch ran medial to the duplicated external jugular vein, joined the anterior branch of the superficial transverse cervical nerve and cervical branch of the facial nerve, and terminated into the skin. This case adds to the growing data on individual variability that should be considered when operating on the anterolateral neck.

Keyword

Transverse cervical nerve; External jugular vein; Anatomy; Cadaver; Neck surgery

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Duplication of the TCN and external jugular vein (asterisk). A small branch of the cervical branch of the facial nerve, one of the anterior branch of the superficial TCN and deep TCN unite and innervate the skin (large red arrow). Small orange arrows indicate superficial branches of TCN; small white arrows indicate deep branch of TCN. GAN, great auricular nerve; SCM, sternocleidomastoid muscle; TCN, transverse cervical nerve.

Reference

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