On the Position and Course of the Deep Plantar Arteries, with Special Reference to the So-Called Plantar Metatarsal Arteries
Okajimas Fol. anat. jap., 48: 295-322, 1971 On the Position and Course of the Deep Plantar Arteries, with Special Reference to the So-Called Plantar Metatarsal Arteries By Takuro Murakami Department of Anatomy, Okayama University Medical School, Okayama, Japan -Received for publication, June 7, 1971- Recently, we have confirmed that, as in the hand and foot of the monkey (Koch, 1939 ; Nishi, 1943), the arterial supply of the human deep metacarpus is composed of two layers ; the superficial layer on the palmar surfaces of the interosseous muscles and the deep layer within the muscles (Murakami, 1969). In that study, we pointed out that both layers can be classified into two kinds of arteries, one descending along the boundary of the interosseous muscles over the metacarpal bone (superficial and deep palmar metacarpal arteries), and the other de- scending along the boundary of the muscles in the intermetacarpal space (superficial and deep intermetacarpal arteries). In the human foot, on the other hand, the so-called plantar meta- tarsal arteries are occasionally found deep to the plantar surfaces of the interosseous muscles in addition to their usual positions on the plantar surfaces of the muscles (Pernkopf, 1943). And they are some- times described as lying in the intermetatarsal spaces (Baum, 1904), or sometimes descending along the metatarsal bones (Edwards, 1960). These circumstances suggest the existence in the human of deep planta of the two arterial layers and of the two kinds of descending arteries. There are, however, but few studies on the courses and positions of the deep plantar arteries, especially of the so-called plantar metatarsal arteries.
[Show full text]