The abducens nerve is characterized by a long intracranial course and complex topographical relationships. Anatomical knowledge may help to understand both the etiology and clinical symptoms of abducens nerve palsy. Typically, the single trunk of the abducens nerve travels on both sides. However, occasionally different variants of unilateral or bilateral duplications of the abducens nerve may be observed. Th e presented paper is a detailed anatomical description of bilateral duplication of the abducens nerve, with atypical appearance of the nerve in the cavernous sinus and normal distribution within the lateral rectus muscle on both sides of one cadaver. On the right side both trunks of the abducens nerve fused within the subarachnoid space and pierced the dura mater together. On the left side both trunks of the duplicated abducens nerve pierced the dura mater separately, entered the petrous apex separately and fused just below the petrosphenoidal ligament. Within the cavernous sinus the nerve divided once again into two filaments, which reunited into one trunk aft er crossing the horizontal segment of the intracavernous part of internal carotid artery. Th e orbital segments of the abducens nerve showed a typical course on both sides. Duplication of the abducens nerve is anatomical variation which should be taken into account during diagnostic and surgical procedures performed within the petroclival region and cavernous sinus.
Th is report provides a concise overview of the rendering and utilization of three-dimensional models in the fi eld of anatomy. Anatomical three-dimensional virtual models are widely used for educational purposes, preoperative planning, and surgical simulations because they simply allow for interactive three-dimensional navigation across the human organs or entire body. Virtual threedimensional models have been recently fabricated as accurate replicas of the anatomical structures thanks to advances in rapid prototyping technology.
The objective of the study was to create a printable 3D model of the sellar region of the sphenoid bone for demonstrating anatomical variant of the osseous bridging between anterior and posterior clinoid processes. Three-dimensional reconstruction of the middle cranial fossa along with 3D printed model, allow for accurate depicting position of the interclinoid bridge with reference to other basicranial structures.
The anatomy of the human temporal bone is complex and, therefore, poses unique challenges for students. Furthermore, temporal bones are frequently damaged from handling in educational settings due to their inherent fragility. This report details the production of a durable physical replica of the adult human temporal bone, manufactured using 3D printing technology. The physical replica was printed from a highly accurate virtual 3D model generated from CT scans of an isolated temporal bone. Both the virtual and physical 3D models accurately reproduced the surface anatomy of the temporal bone. Therefore, virtual and physical 3D models of the temporal bone can be used for educational purposes in order to supplant the use of damaged or otherwise fragile human temporal bones.
The musculocutaneous nerve (C5–C7) is a terminal branch of the lateral cord of the brachial plexus and provides motor innervation to the anterior compartment of arm muscles. Both the musculocutaneous and median nerve may show numerous anatomical variations. Keeping in mind possible aberrations in the course of the upper limb nerves may increase the safety and success rate of surgical procedures. The presented report is a detailed anatomical study of the fusion between the median and musculocutaneous nerve, supplemented by intraneural fascicular dissection. In the presented case, the musculocutaneous nerve was not found in its typical location in the axillary cavity and upper arm during the preliminary assessment. However, a careful intraneural fascicular dissection revealed that musculocutaneous nerve was fused with the median nerve and with its lateral root; Those nerves were surrounded by a common epineurium, however they were separable. The muscular branch to the biceps brachii muscle arose from the trunk ( fascicular bundle) dissected out from the median nerve and corresponding to the musculocutaneous nerve. Such variation may be of utmost clinical importance, especially during reconstructions of the brachial plexus or its branches.
A personal data referring to the scaphoid skull housed in the Department of Anatomy of the Jagiellonian University, Medical College was established thanks to reviewing 19th century literature performed by Dr. Sofi caru. We received information that the skull had belonged to an adult man who was a carpenter, born at Cracow. Th e original anthropometrical study of this skull was performed by prof. Kopernicki 19th century.