• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.98-101
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• 2021

Ulnar tunnel syndrome by anomalous muscles has not been reported in Korea because it is asymptomatic in most cases. The most common anomalous muscles are the accessory abductor digiti minimi and palmaris longus. This is a case report of a patient with ulnar tunnel syndrome at the wrist by the accessory abductor digiti minimi muscle. For patients with ulnar tunnel syndrome, it is important to consider that anomalous muscles can cause ulnar tunnel syndrome.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.90-95
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• 2019

Objective : Anomalous muscles of the wrist are infrequently encountered during carpal tunnel surgery. Anatomic variants of the palmaris longus (PL), flexor digitorum superficialis, lumbricalis and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) have been reported but are usually clinically insignificant. Anomalies of the wrist muscles, encountered during endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery have rarely been described. I conducted this study to evaluate muscular anomalies of the volar aspect of the wrist, encountered during endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery. Methods : I studied a consecutive series of 1235 hands in 809 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome who underwent single-portal endoscopic carpal tunnel release (ECTR) from 2002 to 2014. Nine hundred seventy-three hands in 644 patients who had minimal 6-month postoperative follow-up were included in the study. The postoperative surgical outcome was assessed at least 6 months after surgery. Results : In eight patients, anomalous muscles were found under the antebrachial fascia at the proximal wrist crease and superficial to the ulnar bursa, passing superficial to the transverse carpal ligament. Those anomalous muscles were presumed to be variants of the PL or accessory ADM muscle, necessitating splitting and retraction to enter the carpal tunnel during the ECTR procedure. Other muscle anomalies were not seen within the carpal tunnel on the endoscopic view. The surgical outcome for all eight wrists was successful at the 6-month postoperative follow-up. Conclusion : Carpal tunnel surgeons, especially those using an endoscope should be familiar with unusual findings of anomalous muscles of the wrist because early recognition of those muscles can contribute to avoiding unnecessary surgical exploration and unsuccessful surgical outcomes.