ARTERIAL SUPPLY OF SOLEUS MUSCLE
Salwa Saeed Elsaba, Amany Mahmoud Elagwany, Ehab Mostafa Elzawawy, Nesrin Mostafa Elhomosany, Khalid Aly Matarawy*
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University
Department of Radiology*, Medical Research Institute, Alexandria.
A thorough knowledge of the pattern of blood supply of the leg muscles and skin is essential in planning reconstructive procedures in this area. As a consequence of the development of the use of free flap, the number of operations necessary and the morbidity formerly combined with long period of immobilization could be dramatically reduced. In the present study soleus muscle received its blood supply from the popliteal, posterior tibial and peroneal arteries. The popliteal artery supplied the proximal part of the soleus muscle. The perforators from the posterior tibial artery supplied the distal medial part of the muscle, while the perforators from the peroneal artery supplied its lateral part. This arrangement of the blood supply to the soleus muscle makes the medial part of the muscle reliable as a proximally or distally based flap, and lateral soleus muscle flaps also could be raised with distal pivot point represented by the perforating branches of the peroneal artery to cover ankle and dorsal foot defects up to the metatarsal heads.
December 2012