LAUSR

BACKGROUND The sartorius muscle belongs to the anterior compartment of the thigh. Morphological variations of this muscle are very rare, few cases being described in the literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS A 88 year-old female cadaver was dissected routinely for research and teaching purposes RESULTS: However, an interesting variation was found during anatomical dissection. The proximal part of the sartorius muscle had the normal course, but the distal part bifurcated into two muscle bellies. The additional head passed medially to the standard head; thereafter there was a muscular connection between them. This connection then passed into the tendinous distal attachment. It created a pes anserinus superificalis, which was located superficially to the distal attachments of the semitendinosus and gracilis muscles. This superficial layer was very wide and attached to the medial part of the tibial tuberosity and to the crural fascia. Importantly, two cutaneous branches of the saphenous nerve passed between the two heads. The two heads were innervated by separate muscular branches of the femoral nerve. CONCLUSIONS Such morphological variability could be clinically important.