THE PREVALENCE OF AGENESIS OF PALMARIS LONGUS MUSCLE IN STUDENTS OF NISHTAR MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, MULTAN

Background: Palmaris longus muscle belongs to the superficial group of muscles of forearm. This group normally have five muscles. It is the weak flexor of wrist joint and also anchor the skin and fascia of the hand. It is among the very useful muscles which are used for plastic and reconstructive surgery. The agenesis of Palmaris longus is variable in different population and countries. Objective: To determine the prevalence of agenesis of Palmaris longus muscle in students of Nishtar Medical University, Multan. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on 567 randomly selected normal students of 1st year and 2nd year MBBS classes. There were 236 male students and 331 female students. The age was ranging from 17 years to 25 years. The anterior aspect of forearm and wrist was inspected and different tests were applied to find out the presence or absence of Palmaris longus muscle. Result: The bilateral agenesis of palmaris longus was 5.64%. The unilateral absence of palmaris longus was 7.23%. The right and left arm agenesis of palmaris longus was 4.05% and 3.17% respectively. The bilaterally agenesis in males and females is 6.35% and 5.13% respectively. Right arm and left arm agenesis in males is 4.66% on both sides while in females is 3.62% and 2.11% respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of agenesis of palmaris longus in our study group was 12.87%. It is similar as mentioned in Standard Anatomy Text Books. There was no significant dominance in any arm side (P>0.05%) but when compared in gender it was significantly higher in males (P<0.05%).