1. Dorsal metacarpal veins: anatomic variation and potential clinical implications
- Author
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Islam M. Massad, Darwish H. Badran, Sara S. Elmegarhi, Amjad Shatarat, Amjad M. Bani-Hani, Maher T. Hadidi, and Justin Z. Amarin
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Veins ,Young Adult ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,030225 pediatrics ,Catheterization, Peripheral ,Humans ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Tourniquet application ,Bilateral asymmetry ,business.industry ,Anatomic Variation ,Bilateral symmetry ,General Medicine ,Human physiology ,Anatomy ,Metacarpal Bones ,Hand ,Peripheral ,Surgery ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Female ,business ,Dorsal metacarpal vein ,Venous cannulation - Abstract
The dorsal metacarpal veins are frequently cannulated. Cannulation success is determined by several variable anatomic features. The objective of this study is to classify, for the first time, the anatomic variants of the dorsal metacarpal veins. In this cross-sectional study, 520 university students and staff were conveniently recruited. The dorsal metacarpal veins in 1040 hands were studied. Venous visibility was enhanced by either tourniquet application or near-infrared illumination. Variant patterns of the dorsal metacarpal veins were classified. The final analysis included 726 hands, for an exclusion rate of 30 %. Eight pattern types were identified. Three anatomic features informed the variation. Bilateral symmetry of the dorsal metacarpal veins was present in 352 participants (83 % of the total). The overall frequency distribution of variants in both hands was similar (P = 0.8). The frequency distribution of variants was subject to sexual dimorphism (P = 0.001), ethnic variation (P
- Published
- 2017
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