Publication:

Relation of radial nerve to superficial bony and soft tissue landmarks- a cadaveric study

Background Prevention of iatrogenic nerve injury during humerus fracture surgery would be of prodigious importance. Several methods were used to ease this type of injury but no flawless result is at hand. Therefore, this study was designed to predict the location of the radial nerve (RN) by bony as well as soft tissue landmarks and also identify the safe zone for RN in arm.

Methods Fifty upper limbs belonging to 25 cadavers with no macroscopic deformity of their elbow joint were dissected for the study. RN was dissected in the spiral groove of the humerus and measurements were taken from different anatomical landmarks.

Results There was no bilateral asymmetry as well as no statistical difference was observed in male and female measurements. The mean distance between olecranon to spiral groove 16.91±0.18 cm, olecranon to entry in Intermuscular septum 10.65±0.16 cm, triceps aponeurosis to RN in spiral groove 2.50±0.06 cm, medial epicondyle to upper margin of spiral groove 17.01±0.09 cm and lateral epicondyle to lower margin of spiral groove 10.97±0.12 cm was observed.

Conclusions Understanding the zone of danger of humerus provide more safety during surgical intervention of humerus by predicting the location of RN by different bony and soft tissue landmarks.