Arteries, Anomalies Of

Gates (1946) cited a family in which the grandfather showed bilaterally a radial artery that passed over the supinator longus muscle 3 to 4 cm above the wrist and ran over the radial extensors above the styloid process. All his children were said to have the same anomaly on the left side. Among his grandchildren the anomaly was found on both sides in 4, on one side in 4, and on neither side in 7. Barbosa Sueiro (1933-34) described the case of a man in whom the ulnar artery on the left arm ran along the medial border of the biceps, arising by precocious bifurcation of the branchial artery. There was also a superficial right interosseous artery. The latter condition was present also in the father and a brother and the former condition in the 2 brothers.

Schneck (1879) described the Brown family in which 15 of 22 members of 3 generations showed an abnormal course of 1 or both radial arteries. Out of 44 arteries, the same abnormal course was taken 19 times. Both arteries were abnormal in 4 individuals; both were normal in 7. The right only was abnormal twice and the left only was abnormal 9 times. The artery took the usual course until within 3 to 4 cm of the wrist, according to the length of the arm, when suddenly it turned backwards over the supinator longus muscle, passing on the outside of the extensor tendons of the thumb and above the styloid process of the radius, thence behind the thumb into the palm, to form the palmar arch. Persons marrying into the family all showed radial arteries. This was clearly the family cited by Gates (1946).