Muscle anatomic variants range from absence of a muscle to supernumerary muscles, with a spectrum of possibilities that include anomalous course, anomalous origin or insertion, accessory slips, and others. The most common muscle variants around the knee include aberrant origin and accessory slips of the gastrocnemius muscles, presence of tensor fascia suralis muscle, and accessory popliteus. The medial patellofemoral ligament is a distinct extra-articular condensation of fibers located superficially to the medial joint capsule. We describe the presence of an accessory medial patellofemoral muscle in the expected location of the medial patellofemoral ligament, which to our knowledge has not been described in the literature before.

KEY WORDS: Knee; Accessory muscles; Medial patellofemoral ligament; Medial patellofemoral muscle.

BEDDINGS, M. I.; BURDILES, O. A. & CONTRERAS, O. O. Medial patellofemoral muscle: report of a rare variant. Int. J. Morphol., 34(2):729-731, 2016.