Jornal Vascular Brasileiro
https://jvascbras.org/article/doi/10.1590/1677-5449.003416
Jornal Vascular Brasileiro
Case Report

Clinical features of a rare anatomical variation of the posterior tibial and fibular arteries

Aspectos clínicos de uma variação anatômica rara das artérias tibial posterior e fibular

Pedro Oliveira Portilho, Tulio Fabiano de Oliveira Leite, Ricardo Cardoso, Lucas Alves Sarmento Pires, Julio Guilherme Silva, Carlos Alberto Araujo Chagas

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Abstract

The posterior tibial artery normally arises from tibial-fibular trunk at the popliteal fossa, together with the fibular artery. The classic course of the posterior tibial artery is to run between the triceps surae muscle and muscles of the posterior compartment of the leg before continuing its course posteriorly to the medial malleolus, while the fibular artery runs through the lateral margin of the leg. Studies of both arteries are relevant to the fields of angiology, vascular surgery and plastic surgery. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first case of an anastomosis between the posterior tibial artery and the fibular artery in their distal course. The two arteries joined in an unusual “X” format, before division of the posterior tibial artery into plantar branches. We also provide a literature review of unusual variations and assess the clinical and embryological aspects of both arteries in order to contribute to further investigations regarding these vessels.

Keywords

anatomical variation; cadaver; fibular artery; posterior tibial artery; popliteal artery.

Resumo

A artéria tibial posterior e a artéria fibular se originam do tronco tibiofibular, na fossa poplítea. A trajetória clássica da artéria tibial posterior é correr entre o tríceps sural e os músculos do compartimento posterior da perna, e, então, seguir posteriormente ao maléolo medial. Já a artéria fibular corre na margem lateral da perna, seguindo profundamente aos músculos. O estudo dessas artérias é relevante para o campo da angiologia, cirurgia vascular e cirurgia plástica. O presente trabalho é o primeiro relato de caso de uma anastomose entre ambas artérias, na porção distal de suas trajetórias. Tais artérias se anastomosaram em formato de “X”, antes da divisão da artéria tibial posterior em ramos plantares. Foi feita uma revisão de literatura das variações de tais artérias, dando ênfase ao aspecto clínico e embriológico, de modo a contribuir para novas investigações sobre esses vasos.

Palavras-chave

variação anatômica; cadáver; artéria fibular; artéria tibial posterior; artéria poplítea.

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