Cutaneous Branch of the Obturator Nerve Extending to the Medial Ankle and Foot: A Report of Two Cadaveric Cases

Publication date: Available online 23 July 2019Source: The Journal of Foot and Ankle SurgeryAuthor(s): Brittany Staples, Edward Ennedy, Tae Kim, Steven Nguyen, Andrew Shore, Thomas Vu, Jonathan Labovitz, Mathew WedelAbstractThe area of skin supplied by the cutaneous branch of the obturator nerve (CBO) is highly variable. Although most introductory anatomy texts describe the CBO as innervating only a portion of the medial thigh, there are numerous reports in the literature of CBOs passing the knee to innervate the proximal, middle, or even distal leg. There are no previous reports of CBOs extending to the ankle and foot. Herein we describe 2 cases of CBOs extending at least to the medial foot. Both cases were discovered incidentally, during routine cadaver dissections by osteopathic and podiatric medical students in the anatomy laboratory of Western University of Health Sciences in California. In both instances, the anomalously long CBOs shared several characteristics: (1) they arose as direct branches of the anterior division of the obturator nerve, not from the subsartorial plexus; (2) they coursed immediately posterior to the great saphenous vein from the distal thigh to the distal leg, only deviating away from the saphenous vein just above the medial malleolus; and (3) they terminated in radiating fibers to the posterior half of the medial ankle and foot. In both cases, the saphenous branch of the femoral nerve was present but restricted to the area anterior to the great s...
Source: The Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery - Category: Orthopaedics Source Type: research