FETAL ANATOMY OF THE ARTERIES OF THE DORSUM OF THE HAND

Abstract

Fetal anatomy of the upper extremity in today’s understanding is a set of morphological methods for studying the structure and topography of the structures of its separate areas in human fetuses from the standpoint of the norm and taking into account the forms of individual anatomical variability. Also, in recent decades, microsurgical anatomy has gained intensive development, in particular the hand, which allows studying the structure and topography of small anatomical structures – blood vessels and nerves, muscle tendons, their layer-by-layer relationship in normal anatomical formation, and pathological deviations depending on the needs of microsurgery.The purpose of the study was to fi nd out the sources of blood supply, topography, and branching areas of the arteries of the back of the hand in human fetuses. The study was conducted on the preparations of 18 human fetuses aged from 4 to 10 months using macromicroscopic preparation, injection of arterial vessels, and morphometry.In human fetuses, the arteries of the back of the hand are arranged in two layers. The surface layer of the arterial vessels of the back of the hand, as a rule, is formed by the radial and anterior interosseous arteries, and (or), less often, by the ulnar or posterior interosseous arteries without the formation of arterial arches or nets. The deep layer of the arteries of the back of the hand mostly forms the back carpal arch and is inseparably connected both with the arteries of the superfi cial layer of the back of the hand and with the palmar arterial arches.The arteries of the deep layer of the back part of the hand are mostly (69.5 % of cases) represented by the back arterial arch: 1) radial-i nterosseous; 2) radial-i nterosseous-ulnar; 3) radial- ulnar; in 25 % of observations – with the posterior carpal arterial network. In 5.5 % of cases, the posterior carpal arch or posterior carpal mesh was absent, and duplication of the deep palmar arterial arch was found. Variability of the sources of formation, the degree of development, and the number of dorsal common digital arteries were revealed in human fetuses.Own dorsal digital arteries, except for the arteries of the thumb, as a rule, reach only the level of the middle phalanx of the fi ngers, and then they become thinner, or end in the periosteum or arterial arch-shaped anastomoses of the fi rst interphalangeal joint, or end in the palmar digital arteries, which provide blood supply to the back surface of the distal parts of the fi ngers of the brush.