The palmaris longus muscle: A surface study of the population of North Cyprus

Year 2021, , 267 - 273, 27.10.2021

Maryam N Alıyu Mehtap Tıryakıoglu

https://doi.org/10.5472/marumj.1013454

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this research is to determine the frequency of surface anatomical variations of palmaris longus (PL) muscle in
the population of North Cyprus and their association with gender, body side, and hand dominance.
Materials and Methods: The presence of PL was determined in 1280 subjects (660 females and 620 males) using four testing methods;
Schaeffer’s test, the Thompson’s test, Pushpakumar’s test and the Bhattacharya’s test. Where the presence of the PL could not be
determined by any of these tests, palpation was performed as the final confirmatory test.
Results: The overall frequency of absence was 17.4%. Female subjects showed a higher frequency of absence of 10.6% compared to
males (6.8%). The absence was more likely to occur in the non-dominant hand. In those that had the PL, there were 28 (2.6%) cases
of a split tendon and 3 cases (0.2%) of a laterally displaced tendon of the PL.
Conclusion: The overall frequency of absence of PL in North Cyprus was 17.4% and absence is more likely to occur in females, on the
left side and in the non-dominant hand. Other variations recorded are the split tendons and laterally displaced tendons.

Keywords

Palmaris longus, Anatomical variation, Agenesis, Forearm, North Cyprus

References

• [1] Moore KL, Dalley AF, Agur AMR. Clinically Oriented Anatomy. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2014: 744-750.
• [2] Snell RS. Clinical anatomy by regions. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2018: 382-98.
• [3] Standring S, Anand N, Birch R, Collins P, Crossman AR, Gleeson M, Wigley CB. Gray’s Anatomy. The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. New York: Elsevier, 2016: 848-61.
• [4] Lahiji FA, Ashoori K, Dahmardehei M. Prevalence of palmaris longus agenesis in a hospital in Iran. Arch Iran Med 2013; 16: 187-8.
• [5] Pai MM, Prabhu LV, Nayak SR, et al. The palmaris longus muscle: its anatomic variations and functional morphology. Rom J Morphol Embryol 2008; 49: 215-217.
• [6] Alves N, Ramirez D, Deana NF. Study of frequency of palmaris longus in Chilean subjects. Int J Morphol 2011; 29: 485-9.
• [7] Hiz Ö, Ediz L, Ceylan MF, Gezici E, Gulcu E, Erden M. Prevalence of the absence of palmaris longus muscle assessed by a new examination (Hiz-Ediz Test) in the population residing in the area of Van, Turkey. J Clin Exp Invest 2011; 2:254-9.
• [8] Kose O, Adanir O, Cirpar M, Kurklu M, Komurcu M. The prevalence of absence of the palmaris longus: a study in Turkish population. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 2009;129: 609- 11.
• [9] Kigera JWM, Mukwaya S. Frequency of agenesis of palmaris longus through clinical examination – An East African study. PLoS One 2011; 6: e28997. doi: 0.1371/journal.pone.0028997
• [10] Natsis K, Levva S, Totlis T, Anastasopoulos N, Paraskevas G. Three-headed reversed palmaris longus muscle and its clinical significance. Ann Anat 2007; 189: 97-101.
• [11] Lamichhane PS, Sharma K, Lamichhane N. Study on palmaris longus muscle tendon agenesis among first year Filipino medical students. J Gandaki Med Coll Nepal 2017; 10 :17-20.
• [12] Alabbad AA, Marwah HA, Marwah S, Alahmad SA. The frequency of palmaris longus absence among female students in King Faisal University in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Aradia. Egyptian J of Health Med 2018; 70: 1959-62. doi: 10.12816/0044850
• [13] Devi SK, Bhanu PS, John SP. Incidence of agenesis of palmaris longus in the Andhra population of India. Indian J Plast Surg 2011; 44:134-8. doi: 10.4103/0970-0358.81448
• [14] Roohi SA, Choon-Sian L, Shalimar A, Tan GH, Naicker AS, Rehab MM. A study on the absence of palmaris longus in a multi-racial population. Malaysian Orthop J 2007, 1 : 26-8.
• [15] Mbaka GO and Ejiwunmi AB. Prevalence of Palmaris longus absence – a study in the Yoruba population. Ulster Med J 2001; 78: 22-4.
• [16] Lorenzo JS, Canada M, Diaz L, Sarasua G. Compression of the median nerve by an anomalous palmaris longus tendon: A case report. J Hand Surg 1996; 21A: 858-60. doi: 10.1016/ s0363-5023(96)80204-8.
• [17] Drake RL, Vogl AW, Mitchel AWM. Gray’s Anatomy for students. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2015: 776-81.
• [18] Kyung DS, Lee JH, Choi IJ, Kim DK. Different frequency of the absence of the palmaris longus according to assessment methods in a Korean Population. Anat Cell Biol 2012; 45:53-6. doi: 10.5115/acb.2012.45.1.53
• [19] Ceyhan O, Mavt A. Distribution of agenesis of palmaris longus in 12 to 18 years old age groups. Indian J Med Sci 1997; 51: 156-160.
• [20] Kigera JWM and Mukwaya S. Clinical assessment of the palmaris longus – accuracy of common tests. The Annals of African Surgery 2012; 9 :104-7.
• [21] Alzahrani MS, Almalki MA, Al-Thunayan TA, Almohawis AH, Al Turki AT, Umedani L. Absence of palmaris longus and flexor digitorum superficialis muscles in young Saudi population. Anatomy Research International vol. 2017; Article ID: 5342497, 6 pages, 2017. doi: 10.1155/2017/5342497
• [22] Arquez HF. Morphological study of palmaris longus muscle. International Archive of Medicine: Human Anatomy Section 2017; 10:1-6.
• [23] Ashby BS. Hypertrophy of the Palmaris longus muscle. J Bone Joint Surg Br 1964; 46 : 230-2.
• [24] Barkats N. Hypertrophy of palmaris longus muscle, a rare anatomic aberration. Folia Morphol 2015; 74: 262-4.
• [25] Cerda A, Del Sol M. Morphology and morphometry of the tendons of palmaris longus and radial carpal extensor muscles in humans. Int J Morphol 2016; 34 : 1515-21.
• [26] Das S. Farihah S. Palmaris longus muscle: presence or absence, does it matter? Med Health 2013, 8: 1-2.
• [27] Kapoor SK, Tiwari A, Kumar A, Bhatia R, Tantuway V, Kapoor S. Clinical relevance of palmaris longus agenesis: Common anatomical aberration. Anat Sci Int 2008; 83: 45-8.
• [28] Thompson NW, Mockford BJ, Cran GW. Absence of the palmaris longus muscle: a population study. Ulster Med J 2011; 70 : 22-4.
• [29] Adejuwon SA, Salawu OT, Ajibola B. Agenesis of palmaris longus muscle in selected population of school childres in Nigera. Int J Morphol 2012; 30: 1593-6.
• [30] Gangata H. The clinical surface anomalies of the palmaris longus muscle in the Black African population of Zimbabwe and a proposed new testing technique. Clin Anat 2009; 22: 230-5. doi: 10.1002/ca.20751
• [31] Sebastin SJ, Lim AYT, Wong H-B. Clinical assessment of absence of the Palmaris Longus and its association with other anatomical anomalies – a Chinese population study. Ann Acad Med Singapore 2006; 35: 249-53.
• [32] Yong MW, Yusof N, Rampal L, Arumugam M. Prevalence of absence of palmaris longus and its association with gender, hand dominance and absence of FDS tendon to little finger among Malay population. J Hand Surg Asian Pac 2017; 22: 484-9. doi: 10.1142/S021.881.041750054X.
• [33] Sebastin SJ, Lim AY, Bee WH, Wong TC, Methil BV. Does the absence of the palmaris longus affect grip and pinch strength? J Hand Surg Br 2005; 30: 406-8.
• [34] Ndou R, Ramirez D, Deana NF. Study of frequency of absence of palmaris longus in a South African population of mixed race. Clin Anat 2010; 23:437-42.
• [35] Abledu JK, Offei EB. Prevalence of agenesis of palmaris longus and its association with gender, body side, handedness and other anomalies of the forearm in a student population in Ghana. Rawal Medical J 2014; 39: 203-207.
• [36] Yammine K, Erić M, Assi C. Variations and morphometrics of palmaris longus in fetuses: a meta-analysis of cadaveric studies. Surg Radiol Anat 2020; 42: 281-287. doi: 10.1007/ s00276.019.02391-9
• [37] Cetin A, Gene M, Sevil CY, Coban CY. Prevalence of the palmaris longus muscle and its relationship with grip and pinch strength: a study in a Turkish pediatric population. Hand 2013; 8: 215 – 20.
• [38] Eric M, Koprivcic I, Vucinic N, et al. Prevalence of the palmaris longus in relation to the hand dominance. Surg Radiol Anat 2011; 33: 481-4.
• [39] Alshalam AA, Mular P, Jawad K. Anomalous V-shape palmaris longus tendon: Two cases. J Med Cases 2010; 1: 68-70. doi: https://doi.org/10.4021/jmc114e