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Bifid Median Nerve with Persistent Median Artery

Jeimylo C. de Castro, MD. FPARM, RMSK, DABRM, CIPS & Paschenelle B. Celis, MD, FPARM
The median nerve arises from the medial and lateral cords of the brachial plexus, representing the root level of C5 to T1 levels, which is a mixed sensory and motor nerve. As a single nerve, the median nerve enters underneath the flexor retinaculum in the palmar wrist region. It then bifurcates distally into medial and lateral branches, whose sensory branch supplies the first three and a half portions of fingers, and a thenar motor branch which supplies the thumb (abductor pollicis brevis, opponens pollicis, and the superficial head of the flexor pollicis brevis) and the lateral two lumbricals of the hands. A bifid median nerve (BMN) is present when this bifurcation occurs proximal to the flexor retinaculum. This anatomical variant increases the chance for patients to develop symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. The median nerve has its own blood supply arising from the axial artery, known as the median artery. It arises from the common interosseous artery, which is a branch of the ulnar artery called the anterior interosseous artery (Park et al., 2021). The median artery runs along the median nerve up to the palm and is anastomosed with the superficial palmar arch. It remains to be the predominant blood supply to the thumb. By the eighth week of gestation, it usually regresses. It can remain patent and may be present in any of these two forms: persistent median artery (PMA) in the forearm (antebrachial type) or persistent median artery at the palm (palmar type) (Solewski et al., 2021). It then pierces the median nerve bundle at the perineurium and separates the nerve into two (bifid) or three (trifid) bundles. A bifid or trifid median nerve can exist without a persistent median artery (Asghar et al., 2022).

The prevalence of bifid median nerve is 10% in unmatched healthy populations and 12.7% among patients diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The prevalence of bifid median nerve with persistent median artery among healthy and CTS patients was 5% and 6%, respectively. Bifurcation proximal to or within the carpal tunnel is 8.61-11.48% and 1.0-1.28%, respectively. Compression median neuropathy happens in the palmar type of PMA, characterized by paresthesia and numbness of the fingers (Asghar et al., 2022).

We are presenting a 60-year-old female patient who has been experiencing numbness and paresthesia in both fingers for less than a year. There was a 20% loss of sensation at the level of the radial fingers with the absence of motor weakness (APB) and muscle atrophy. Phalen’s test and Tinel’s test were positive. A musculoskeletal ultrasound examination was done and showed a bifid median nerve with an associated persistent median artery.
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Figure 1. Ultrasound image of the transverse view (A) of the carpal tunnel showing a bifid median nerve (BMN) with persistent median artery (PMS). The cross-sectional area (CSA) is 0.03 cm2 and 0.10 cm2, respectively. The combined CSA of the bifid median nerve is 0.19 cm2. The increase in size is due to the location of the PMA inside the epineurium. The Power Doppler image (B) showed increased flow at the site of the PMA within the epineurium. MN, median nerve; PMA, persistent median artery.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common entrapment neuropathy. Understanding the cause, nature, and symptomatology of this condition is important in making the correct diagnosis and planning for the appropriate treatment. Musculoskeletal ultrasound is a useful imaging modality in determining the exact anatomical defect in carpal tunnel syndrome. The presence of a bifid median nerve with a persistent median artery in patients reveals the necessity of identifying the real anatomic variant that could exist when assessing a patient. Assuming that each patient simply has an entrapment neuropathy in carpal tunnel syndrome is limiting our capability to understand that, indeed, there are various etiologies. This also underscores the importance of conducting an image-based diagnosis, particularly when treatment decisions are imminent. In this case, we have successfully performed an ultrasound-guided median nerve hydrodissection using a regenerative injection solution with full relief of symptoms after a month.
As physiatrists, electromyography and musculoskeletal ultrasound are important modalities for diagnosing nerve entrapment neuropathies. Understanding the strengths and limitations of each modality will aid us in determining their usefulness for diagnostic purposes and image-guided interventions in our patients.

References:

Asghar, A., Patra, A., Ravi, K., Tubbs, R., Kumar, A., & Naaz, S. (2022). Bifid median nerve as an anatomical risk factor for carpal tunnel syndrome: A meta‐analysis. Clinical Anatomy, 35(7), 946-952.

Park, E. J., Hahn, S. Yi, J., Shin, K. J., Lee, Y., & Lee, H. (2021). Comparison of the diagnostic        performance of strain elastography and shear wave elastography for the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, 40, 1011-1021. Solewski, B., Lis, M., Pekala, J. R., Brzegowy, K., Lauritzen, S. S., Holden, M. K., Walocha, J.

A., Tomaszewski, P. A., Pekala, P. A., & Koziej, M. (2021). The persistent median artery and its vascular patterns: a meta-analysis 10, 394 subjects. Clinical Anatomy, 34, 1171-1185.