Accessory muscles of the forearm, wrist and hand
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
At the time the article was created Joachim Feger had no recorded disclosures.
View Joachim Feger's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Craig Hacking had the following disclosures:
- Philips Australia, Paid speaker at Philips Spectral CT events (ongoing)
These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.
View Craig Hacking's current disclosures- Accessory muscle of the hand and wrist
- Accessory muscle of the wrist
- Accessory muscle of the forearm
Accessory muscles of the forearm, wrist and hand are muscular, usually asymptomatic, anatomical variants that might be encountered on imaging studies and confused with pathologic conditions.
The following accessory muscles around the forearm, wrist and hand have been described 1-6:
-
elbow
-
volar wrist midline
-
palmaris longus variants (common)
palmaris longus profundus muscle
aberrant palmaris longus muscle
-
-
volar wrist radial-side
flexor indicis profundus muscle
accessory head of the flexor pollicis longus muscle (common)
-
volar wrist ulnar-side
-
dorsal wrist
On this page:
Radiographic features
Accessory muscles look like other muscles in imaging studies.
Radiology report
The radiological report should include a description of the following features:
accessory muscle with location
Clinical importance
Accessory muscles might mimic pathological conditions such as tumors or mass lesions.
Related pathology
Accessory muscles of the forearm, wrist, and hand have been implicated in the following clinical conditions 1-5:
wrist pain
References
- 1. Sookur P, Naraghi A, Bleakney R, Jalan R, Chan O, White L. Accessory Muscles: Anatomy, Symptoms, and Radiologic Evaluation. Radiographics. 2008;28(2):481-99. doi:10.1148/rg.282075064 - Pubmed
- 2. Timins M. Muscular Anatomic Variants of the Wrist and Hand: Findings on MR Imaging. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1999;172(5):1397-401. doi:10.2214/ajr.172.5.10227524 - Pubmed
- 3. Andring N, Kennedy S, Iannuzzi N. Anomalous Forearm Muscles and Their Clinical Relevance. J Hand Surg Am. 2018;43(5):455-63. doi:10.1016/j.jhsa.2018.02.028 - Pubmed
- 4. West C, Ricketts D, Brassett C. An Anatomical Study of Additional Radial Wrist Extensors Including a Unique Extensor Carpi Radialis Accessorius. Folia Morphol. 2017;76(4):742-7. doi:10.5603/fm.a2017.0047 - Pubmed
- 5. Park S. Anomalous Muscles of the Wrist Encountered During Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Surgery. J Korean Neurosurg Soc. 2019;62(1):90-5. doi:10.3340/jkns.2018.0111 - Pubmed
- 6. Norris MA. Accessory Muscles of the Hand and Wrist. Radsource – April 2014. MRI Web Clinic
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