The Sartorial Branch of the Saphenous Nerve: Its Anatomy at the Joint Line of the Knee

Anatomic and Ultrasonographic Evaluation of the Knee Sensory Innervation

“…However, several authors consider it to be inaccurate and incomplete, 13-16 based on the innervation described in former anatomic studies. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Innervation of the knee is extremely complex, with nerves originating from several different branches and significant interindividual variability. Owing to its therapeutic relevance, it is crucial to have an in-depth understanding of the anatomy regarding the sensory innervation of the knee including branches from the lumbar (femoral and obturator nerves) and lumbosacral plexus (sciatic nerve).…”

“…In this work, the sensory innervation of 25 knees in cadaver dissections has been studied and the results compared to those previously reported. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] This article describes the anatomic pathways of different nerves in relation to their muscular structures. The main objective was to determine the sensory innervation patterns of the knee joint and to correlate them with dynamic visualization via ultrasound imaging.…”

The “ghost” nerve alias sartorial branch of the saphenous nerve: a proof of scientific negligence!

“…Regarding the manuscript of Sabat and Kumar, [2] they even did not include all of the quite low number of publications concerning the sartorial branch. They failed to list Dunaway et al [10] Certainly we agree that such already published manuscript should include only reviewed and correct information, the manuscript of Sabat and Kumar [2] confirms the opposite. After the motto "fast, many and high", most scientists are measured by number of publications per year, the higher the impact factor the better it is.…”

“…As both of them begin with "S", the abbreviation has never been questioned again. Even more, Arthornthurasook and Gaew-Im [9] revitalized this nerve by their own investigation on the sartorial branch to be followed by Dunaway [10] and Sanders. [2] All of these authors investigated a well-known nerve supposedly believing of assessing a new structure.…”

“…[8] However, Sabat and Kumar list some papers as references for confirming the anatomy of this nerve. [9][10][11][12] What is more, Sabat and Kumar present a figure enclosed in their publication, which defines innervation area of the sartorial branch distally to the IPBSN innervation area (abbreviated with "I") and abbreviated it with an "S". This is confusing, because as the sartorius muscle ends at knee level, so as a consequence one can ask from which structure the sartorial branch got its name from.…”