Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2005;28:494
© 2005 Elsevier Science NL
Images in cardio-thoracic surgery |
Superficial ulnar artery
Joseph Jacob
*
,
Ranjit Deshpande,
Jatin Desai
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 9RS, UK
Received 7 January 2005;
received in revised form 13 February 2005;
accepted 14 February 2005.
* Corresponding author. Address: 10 Wolsey road, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2HW, UK. Tel.: +44 787 031 4365. (Email: jjjjacob{at}hotmail.com).
Key Words: Superficial • Ulnar • Artery
The ulnar artery can occasionally run superficial to the forearm flexors, the importance of this variant growing with the increasing use of radial arteries as conduits in coronary bypass. This case demonstrates the risk of damage to such a superficial artery, shown in Fig. 1
, and confirmed on Doppler (Fig. 2
).
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Fig. 1. Bifurcation of left brachial artery into superficial radial artery (travelling vertically along forearm), and superficial ulnar artery curving medially. The first such case seen at our institution in 1117 operations over 9 years, where radial arteries were harvested for coronary bypass.
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Fig. 2. Doppler of left forearm demonstrating left ulnar artery (U) 0.671cm below skin. The right ulnar artery was 3.184cm below the skin in this patient.
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