Cynthia Guadalupe Reyes Hernández; Sergio Everardo Velázquez Gauna; Juan José Bazaldúa Cruz; José Miguel Hinojosa Amaya; Rodrigo E. Elizondo Omaña & Santos Guzmán López

The radial artery (RA) is used in medical practice to perform different surgical procedures, of which most realized is the coronary artery bypass graft surgery. In the current literature there is little information about the compatibility of this artery with other vascular conduits. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the anatomical, morphometric and distribution characteristics of radial artery on the forearm. Radial artery was dissected from the forearms of 10 embalmed cadavers, muscular branches and vasa nervorum were identified and registered, total length was measured. Three samples of each artery were obtained (proximal, middle and distal) to be processed by histological techniques and to determine the thickness of its tunica media and its diameters. The results show a mode of 8 arterial branches to the brachioradialis, a mode of 4 for the superficial flexor muscles of the fingers and flexor carpi radialis, we found an unique arterial branch to the pronator quadratus and a mode of 1 vasa nervorum of superficial branch of radial nerve. The total length of the artery was 21.94 cm (± 3.34). The vascular wall thickness we found were 196.16 mm (±72.35), 148.25 mm (±40.40) and 158.96 mm (±45.74) in the proximal, middle and distal segments respectively. The luminal diameters showed an average of 1.48 mm (±0.70) in the proximal region, 1.01 mm (±0.35) in the middle region and 1.43 mm (±0.47) in the distal region. In the present study we concluded that considering the morphometric characteristics, the radial artery is an option that satisfied the criteria of length, thickness and luminal diameter to be used as a graft in the coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

KEY WORDS: Morphometry; Radial artery; Coronary artery bypass grafting.

REYES, H. C. G.; VELÁZQUEZ, G. S. E.; BAZALDÚA, C. J. J.; HINOJOSA, A. J. M.; ELIZONDO-OMAÑA, R. E. & GUZMÁN, L. S. Morphometric study of the radial artery and its involvement in bypass surgery grafting. Int. J. Morphol., 31(3):791-796, 2013.