Communications between Musculocutaneous Nerve and Median Nerve - a Study

A study was done to note the communications between the Musculocutaneous nerve and Median nerve. Of the 50 arms studied, 17 had variations. Communications from the Musculocutaneous nerve to the Median nerve were seen in 76.47% of the variant arms. Of these, 53.8% were in the upper 1/3 of the arm, 38.46% in the middle 1/3 and 7.69% in the distal 1/3 of the arm. A communicating branch from the Median nerve to the Musculocutaneous nerve was found only in 5.88% of the variant arms. In 11.76% of the variant arms, the whole lateral cord joined the medial root to form the Median nerve. The Musculocutaneous nerve then arose from the Median nerve. When the communications were classified according to the classification by earlier authors [Venieratos D, Anagnostopoulou S 1998, Choi. D 2002] the percentage of the communicating branches agreed with those of the earlier studies. The results of this study show that the intercommunications between Musculocutaneous nerve and Median nerve are frequent. These variations are frequent and have to be studied in detail by every surgeon so as to prevent any iatrogenic damage during surgery. These intercommunications can result in neuropathies with atypical presentation. Incorrect diagnosis and unnecessary surgeries (e.g, carpal tunnel release) can be avoided if the surgeon keeps in mind these variations and the clinical presentation of these variant nerves in case of an injury.