Morphology of the superior gluteal nerve: a study in adult human cadavers

The morphometrical and topographical evaluation of the superior gluteal nerve in the prenatal period

Introduction

Advances in medical science are helping to break down the barriers to surgery. In the near future, neonatal or in utero operations will become the standard for the treatment of defects in the human motor system. In order to carry out such procedures properly, detailed knowledge of fetal anatomy is necessary. It must be presented in an attractive way not only for anatomists but also for potential clinicians who will use this knowledge in contact with young patients. This work responds to this demand and presents the anatomy of the superior gluteal nerve in human fetuses in an innovative way. The aim of this work is to determine the topography and morphometry of the superior gluteal nerve in the prenatal period. We chose the superior gluteal nerve as the object of our study because of its clinical significance—for the practice of planning and carrying out hip surgery and when performing intramuscular injections.

Material and methods

The study was carried out on 40 human fetuses (20 females and 20 males) aged from 15 to 29 weeks (total body length v-pl from 130 to 345 mm). Following methods were used: anthropological, preparatory, image acquisition with a digital camera, computer measurement system Scion for Windows 4.0.3.2 Alpha and Image J (accuracy up to 0.01 mm without damaging the unique fetal material) and statistical methods.

Results

The superior gluteal nerve innervates three physiologically significant muscles of the lower limb’s girdle: gluteus medius muscle, gluteus minimus muscle and tensor fasciae latae muscle. In this study the width of the main trunk of the nerve supplying each of these three muscles was measured and the position of the nerve after leaving the suprapiriform foramen was observed. A unique typology of the distribution of branches of the examined nerve has been created. The bushy and tree forms were distinguished. There was no correlation between the occurrence of tree and bushy forms with the body side (p > 0.05), but it was shown that the frequency of the occurrence of the bushy form in male fetuses is significantly higher than in female fetuses (p < 0.01). Proportional and symmetrical nerve growth dynamics were confirmed and no statistically significant sexual dimorphism was demonstrated (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

The anatomy of the superior gluteal nerve during prenatal period has been determined. We have identified two morphological forms of it. We have observed no differences between right and left superior gluteal nerve and no sexual dimorphism. The demonstrated high variability of terminal branches of the examined nerve indicates the risk of neurological complications in the case of too deep intramuscular injections and limits the range of potential surgical interventions in the gluteal region. The above research may be of practical importance, for example for hip surgery.