Welcome to International Journal of Anatomy and Research

Type of Article : Original Research

Year: 2015 | Volume 3 | Issue 3 | Page No. 1237-1239

Date of Publication: 02-08-2015

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.16965/ijar.2015.200

UNILATERAL ABSENCE OF SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH LUMBRICALS: A RARE CASE REPORT WITH AN EVOLUTIONARY SIGNIFICANCE

Jeneeta Baa * ¹, J.S.Prusti ², S.Rath ³.

^*1 Senior resident,Department of Anatomy, M.K.C.G.Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, Odisha 760004, India.
² Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, M.K.C.G.Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, Odisha 760004, India.
³ Professor and Head of Department of Anatomy, Department of Anatomy, M.K.C.G.Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, Odisha 760004, India.

Address: Dr. Jeneeta Baa, Department of Anatomy, M.K.C.G.Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, Odisha 760004, India. E-Mail: drjeneetabaa@gmail.com

Abstract

Lumbricals are the intrinsic muscles of the hand resembling the earthworms. During routine dissection of the hand of a 58 years old male cadaver,we found a rare variation of absence of the second,third and fourth lumbricals of the left hand while the right hand showed no abnormality. Lumbricals act as flexor of the metacarpophalangeal  joint and extensor of the interphalangeal joint but owing to their movable attachments, their function is difficult to visualize. Variability of the muscle both in morphology and function indicates the  ongoing process of evolution.
KEY WORDS: Lumbricals, Absence, Muscle spindles, Variation, Evolution.

References

1. Braithwaite F., Channel G.D, F.T.& Whillis.J. The Applied Anatomy of the Lumbrical and Interosseous Muscles of the Hand. Guy’s Hosp. Reports 1948;97:185-95.
2. R.A. Bergman, S.A. Thompson, A.K. Afifi, and F.A. Saadeh. Compendium of human anatomic variation, Munich, Urban and Schwarzenberg. 1988;17:13-14.
3. M.L. Ajmani. Morphological variations of lumbrical muscles in the human hand with some observations on its nerve supply, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal 2001;3:20-25.
4. Leijnse JN, Kalker JJ. A two dimensional kinematic model of the lumbrical in the human finger. J Biomech. 1995;28:237-249. [PubMed: 7730384]
5. Klomlkleaw W, Kasashima Y, Fuller GA, et al. Horse lumbrical muscle: possible structural and functional reorganization in regressive muscle. Anat Histol Embryol. 2002;31:85-98. [PubMed:12047244]
6. Banks RW, Emonet Denand F. Characteristic properties of superficial lumbrical spindles in cat hind limb, related to their bag1 fibres. J Anat. 1996;189(1):65-71. [PubMed: 8771397]
7. Tuttle RH. Knuckle walking and the evolution of hominoid hands. Am. J Phys Anthropol. 1967;26:171-206.
8. Winckler G, Foroglou C. Comparative study on neuromuscular spindles of the lumbrical muscles in certain mammals and in man. Arch Anat Histol Embryol. 1965;48:1-17. [PubMed: 4221818].
9. Singh JD, Raju PB, Singh Shamer. Anomalous insertion of hand lumbricals. J Anat Soc Ind. 1975;24:122-5.
10. Mehta H.J, & Gardner W.U. A Study of Lumbrical Muscles in the Human Hand. Am.J.Anat. 1961;109:227-238.
11. Kurzumi M, Karwai K, Honma S, & Kodama K. Anomalous Lumbrical Muscles Arising from the Deep Surface of Flexor Digitorum Superficialis Muscles in Man. Ann Anat, 2002;184(4):387-92.
12. Schreuders TA, Stam HJ. Strength measurements of the lumbrical muscles. J Hand Ther. 1996,9:303-5. [PubMed:8994003]
13. Buford WL Jr, Koh S, Andersen CR, ET al. Analysis of intrinsic extrinsic muscle function through interactive 3 dimensional kinematic simulation and cadaver studies. J Hand Surg. 2005,30:1267-75.
14. Standring S. (2005). Gray’s Anatomy, 39th Ed. Edinburgh: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone,1021-23.

Jeneeta Baa, J.S.Prusti, S.Rath. UNILATERAL ABSENCE OF SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH LUMBRICALS: A RARE CASE REPORT WITH AN EVOLUTIONARY SIGNIFICANCE. Int J Anat Res 2015;3(3):1237-1239. DOI: 10.16965/ijar.2015.200