ACCESSORY HEAD OF CORACOBRACHIALIS AND ITS CLINICAL USES

Coracobrachialis is the most medial of three anterior compartment muscles of arm. In some mammals it is tricipital in origin. The lower head is usually suppressed in man. Sometimes it is represented by a fibrous band, the ligament of Struther?s. During our dissection regime of 1st MBBS students in the department of anatomy, BJMC, we observed an accessory head of coracobrachialis on the right side of a male embalmed donated cadaver .The muscle was described as being functionally unimportant. However, the muscle has recently attracted interest with its potential use for contouring the infraclavicular area or covering the exposed axillary vessels specifically in postmastectomy reconstructive operations, muscle transfer for the treatment of paralysis, as a guide for axillary artery access and anaesthetic blockade of the brachial plexus.