SURAL NERVE IN A MUSCULOFASCIAL TUNNEL OF GASTRONEMIUS - A CASE REPORT

Sural nerve is a prodigiously studied and widely used sensory nerve in man. Variations in its formation and course are more common. So a profound knowledge about its course and variation are crucial for the clinician for diagnosing neuropathy, as sural nerve mononeuropathy is less likely and also for the surgeons for autologous peripheral nerve grafting and nerve biopsies. Here, we report a unilateral occurrence of an abnormal course of the medial sural nerve in an 85 year old female cadaver. The medial sural nerve, branch of tibial nerve ran in a musculo-fascial tunnel within the belly of gastronemius which then continued as sural nerve. The sural communicating nerve was absent. This abnormal course of the nerve may cause an entrapment neuropathy during muscle contraction and should always be thought as a cause of an uncommon sural nerve entrapment mononeuropathy.