Eur J Anat, 20 (2): 191-193 (2016)

A rare variant of the posterior cord of the brachial plexus

Qing-hua Mao¹, Yu-xiu Meng¹, Jing Li²

¹Department of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, First People's Hospital, Jining, Shandong, China, ²Department of Anatomy, Academy of Basic Medicine, Jining Medical University, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT In the dissection of a 67-year-old Chinese male cadaver, a variant of the posterior cord was observed. The posterior cord was consisted of two parts. The upper posterior cord was the continuation of the posterior division of the upper trunk. It gave off the suprascapular nerve, the subscapular nerve, a communicating branch and then continued as the axillary nerve. The lower posterior cord was formed by the posterior divisions of the middle and lower trunks. After giving off the thoracodorsal nerve, the lower posterior cord fused with the communicating branch and continued as the radial nerve.

Keywords: Variant, Posterior cord, Brachial plexus