A study of radial artery, its branching pattern and variations with clinical applications.

The Radial artery is one of the two terminal branches of brachial artery at the level of cubital fossa. Variations in the origin, course and branching pattern of Radial artery are very common and of interest to anatomists and clinicians. Radial artery is being increasingly used for various interventional and investigative procedures like coronary angiography and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) Knowledge about the origin, course and branches of Radial artery as well as the formation of Superficial and Deep palmar arches is important for vascular and plastic surgeries. Present study was done to document and provide information of both normal and variant morphology of the radial artery. 25 adult human cadavers (50 Upper limbs) from the Institute of Anatomy, Madras medical College were used for the study. In the present study it was found that high origin of radial artery from brachial artery in arm was in 6%. The mean length of radial artery was 21.25cms. Recurrent Radial artery arose from the radial artery and brachial artery in 96% and 4% respectively. Accessory recurrent radial artery was present in 4% of specimens. Superficial palmar arch was complete in 80% and incomplete in 20% respectively. Among the complete arch type I was 40%, type II was 8% and type V was 2%. Among the incomplete arch type I was 4% and type II was 16%. The data obtained will be useful for cardiovascular surgeons, plastic surgeons and orthopaedic surgeons