Anatomic variations are often responsible for a variety of clinical conditions. In this review we investigate compression of the celiac artery and the superior mesenteric artery by the median arcuate ligament (MAL), diaphragmatic crura, or the celiac nerve plexus. This clinical condition known as celiac artery compression syndrome (CACS) has proven controversial in definition and relevance. This condition was first described as chronic abdominal pain because of the mesenteric ischemia caused by extrinsic compression of the celiac artery. Dunbar and others presented surgical approaches to decompress the celiac artery by releasing the MAL. Definitive answers have been sought to classify and relieve the clinical symptoms patients experience postprandially. Persistent symptoms following surgical treatment for CACS have led investigators to question the existence of this disease. Advances in technology such as angiographic MRI and color duplex ultrasonography have refreshed the importance of considering compression of the celiac artery during differential diagnoses. Because of the varying anatomic etiologies of disease, it is not possible to pinpoint a single cause for CACS. Potential etiologies for compression of the celiac artery include a "high take off" origin of the celiac artery compressed by normal diaphragmatic crura and MAL, a normal origin of the celiac artery with long diaphragmatic crura and MAL, large bilaterally fused celiac ganglia (with or without the involvement of the superior mesenteric ganglia) compressing the celiac trunk, celiacomesenteric trunk compression by diaphragmatic crura and MAL, or combinations of the above mentioned entities. In this review we describe potential sources of compression of the celiac artery by regional structures and treatments of CACS in an effort to justify the relevance of CACS in modern medicine.

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Information regarding branches of the brachial plexus can be of utility to the surgeon for neurotization procedures following injury. Sixty-two adult cadaveric upper extremities were dissected and the subscapular nerves identified and measured. The upper subscapular nerve originated from the posterior cord in 97% of the cases and in 3% of the cases directly from the axillary nerve. The upper subscapular nerve originated as a single nerve in 90.3% of the cases, as two independent nerve trunks in 8% of the cases and as three independent nerve trunks in 1.6% of the cases. The thoracodorsal nerve originated from the posterior cord in 98.5% of the cases and in 1.5% of the cases directly from the proximal segment of the radial nerve. The thoracodorsal nerve always originated as a single nerve from the brachial plexus. The lower subscapular nerve originated from the posterior cord in 79% of the cases and in 21% of the cases directly from the proximal segment of the axillary nerve. The lower subscapular nerve originated as a single nerve in 93.6% of the cases and as two independent nerve trunks in 6.4% of the cases. The mean length of the lower subscapular nerve from its origin until it provided its branch into the subscapularis muscle was 3.5 cm and the mean distance from this branch until its termination into the teres major muscle was 6 cm. The mean diameter of this nerve was 1.9 mm. The mean length of the upper subscapular nerve from its origin to its termination into the subscapularis muscle was 5 cm and the mean diameter of the nerve was 2.3 mm. The mean length of the thoracodorsal nerve from its origin to its termination into the latissimus dorsi muscle was 13.7 cm. The mean diameter of this nerve was 2.6 mm. Our hopes are that these data will prove useful to the surgeon in surgical planning for potential neurotization procedures of the brachial plexus.

This study demonstrated that detection of cancerous and high-risk lesions can be significantly increased when an MRI-guided biopsy program is introduced at a community-based hospital. We believe that as radiologists gain confidence in imaging and histologic correlation, community-based hospitals can achieve similar rates of occult lesion diagnosis as those found in data emerging from academic institutions.