The sensory innervation of the dorsum of the hand is usually given by the superficial branch of radial nerve and the dorsal branch of ulnar nerve, where the first, reaches the lateral zone of the dorsum to the radial half of ring finger and the second, the ulnar half of this finger and the little toe, not being free from variations. In order to analyze the distribution of the superficial branch of radial nerve in the dorsum of the hand, we studied by dissection of cadaver specimens, 36 hands, 30 adult Brazilians and 6 Chileans, finding in these samples, two with a special disposition where the superficial branch of radial nerve was responsible for all of the innervation of the dorsum of the hand. The main branches were nominated from lateral to medial zone. In one of them, this branch gave rise to three main branches (R1, R2 and R3) which were distributed by the dorsum of the hand with the respective divisions for the fingers and the other case, this branch originated four main branches (R1, R2, R3 and R4), distributed widely in the dorsum and fingers. Knowledge of the arrangement of the superficial branch of radial nerve and its branches is of importance to the surgical anatomy of the dorsal region of the wrist and hand, where there are procedures that could jeopardize the nerve and its branches.
KEY WORDS. Anatomy; Hand; Radial nerve.
How to cite this article
TIZNADO, G.; SOUSA-RODRIGUES, C. & OLAVE, E. Superficial branch of the radial nerve: Large distribution in the dorsum of hand. Int. J. Morphol., 30(2):374-378, 2012.
