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Digital Innervation Patterns Following Median or Ulnar Nerve Laceration and their Correlation to Anatomic Variations of the Communicating Branch Between these Nerves

From the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, VU Medical Centre, Armsterdam, Netherlands, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital, VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Department of Occupational Therapy, VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Dr J. Peter W. Don Griot, MD, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, VU Medical Centre, P.O. Box 7057, NL-1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31-20-444 3517; fax: +31-20-444-0151; E-mail: dongriot{at}vumc.nl

The midline of the ring finger is classically considered as the neural watershed between the median and ulnar nerve sensory territories on the palmar surfaces of the fingers. Variations of this division exist and may be explained by a communicating branch between the third and fourth common digital nerves. The palmar sensibility patterns of fingers were assessed with Semmes Weinstein filaments after either a complete median or an ulnar nerve transection in 43 patients. Eight out of nine observed sensibility patterns could be explained by known anatomic types and subtypes of the communicating branch. The type of communicating branch, but not its subtype, could be established in the one remaining pattern.

Key Words: ulnar nerve • median nerve • communicating branch • Semmes-Weinstein testing

Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volume), Vol. 29, No. 4, 351-355 (2004)
DOI: 10.1016/J.JHSB.2004.03.007


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