Unusual Cubital Fossa Anatomy – Case Report

Abstract

The median nerve is known to show variations in its origin, course, relations and distribution. But in almost all cases it passes through the cubital fossa. We saw a cubital fossa without a median nerve. The median nerve had a normal course in the upper part of front of the arm but in the distal third of the arm it passed in front of the medial epicondyle of humerus, surrounded by fleshy fibres of pronator teres muscle. Its course and distribution in the forearm was normal. In the same limb, the fleshy fibres of the brachialis muscle directly continued into the forearm as brachioradialis, there being no fibrous septum separating the two muscles from each other. The close relationship of the nerve to the epicondyle might make it vulnerable in the fractures of the epicondyle. The muscle fibres surrounding the nerve might pull up on the nerve and result in altered sensory-motor functions of the hand. Since the brachialis and brachioradialis are two muscles supplied by two different nerves, this continuity of the muscles might result in compression/entrapment of the radial nerve in it.

Keywords: Median nerve, cubital fossa, brachialis, brachioradialis, entrapment