The palmaris longus muscle: A surface study of the population of North Cyprus

Objective: The aim of this research is to determine the frequency of surface anatomical variations of palmaris longus (PL) muscle inthe population of North Cyprus and their association with gender, body side, and hand dominance.Materials and Methods: The presence of PL was determined in 1280 subjects (660 females and 620 males) using four testing methods;Schaeffer’s test, the Thompson’s test, Pushpakumar’s test and the Bhattacharya’s test. Where the presence of the PL could not bedetermined by any of these tests, palpation was performed as the final confirmatory test.Results: The overall frequency of absence was 17.4%. Female subjects showed a higher frequency of absence of 10.6% compared tomales (6.8%). The absence was more likely to occur in the non-dominant hand. In those that had the PL, there were 28 (2.6%) casesof a split tendon and 3 cases (0.2%) of a laterally displaced tendon of the PL.Conclusion: The overall frequency of absence of PL in North Cyprus was 17.4% and absence is more likely to occur in females, on theleft side and in the non-dominant hand. Other variations recorded are the split tendons and laterally displaced tendons.