Eur J Anat, 17 (4): 259-261 (2013)

Axillary arch muscle: a case report

Kamal Kataria, Anurag Srivastava and Amitabha Mandal

Department of Surgical Disciplines, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

ABSTRACT An axillary arch is a regional muscle variation of the axilla. It is an additional muscle bundle which may extend from the latissimus dorsi to the pectoralis major in the anterior fold, to the short head of the biceps brachii or to the coracoid process. In the present case report, a 40 year-old female presented with a complaint of a right breast lump, which was gradually increasing in size. On triple assessment, it was diagnosed as an invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. She underwent Skin Sparing Mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection. While doing axillary lymph node dissection, we encountered an abnormal bundle of muscle fibre crossing the axilla from the lattisimus dorsi muscle to the posterior surface of the right pectoralis major muscle. It is important that surgeons should be aware of axillary arch while operating in the axilla, as it may lead to development of a different type of pathology of the axillary fossa and its constituents.

Keywords: axillary arch muscle, langerâ??s arch, lymphadenectomy