ANOMALOUS ORIGIN OF ANTERIOR INTEROSSEOUS ARTERY

Background: The Brachial Artery ,usually a continuation of the axillary artery begins at the distal border of teres major and ends about a centimetre distal to the elbow joint by dividing into the radial and ulnar artery. Objectives: a. To document the origin of anterior interosseous artery from brachial artery. B. To establish embryological and clinico-anatomical correlation of such variations. Methods: These findings were observed after meticulous dissection of the upper limbs of both sides of a 43 year old adult male cadaver in the department of anatomy ,R .G .Kar Medical College ,Kolkata. Results: The brachial artery present in the right limb gave a branch in the upper 1/3 of the arm from its lateral aspect. This branch of brachial artery went downwards and became deep to pronator teres and continued as the anterior interosseous artery. The brachial artery itself descended and remained superficial to pronator teres. Just below the elbow joint it underwent bifurcation into radial and ulnar artery.The subsequent course of those two arteries was normal. And there was absence of common interosseous artery. So the anterior interosseous artery instead of arising from the common interosseous artery which was the branch of the ulnar artery took origin from brachial artery. Conclusion: This variation was explained in the light of embryological development and such variations were useful for physicians, surgeons, nephrologists ,radiologists and interventionist in various surgical procedures and also for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.