Lateral cutaneous nerve of forearm

Nerve: Lateral cutaneous nerve of forearm
Diagram of segmental distribution of the cutaneous nerves of the right upper extremity. Anterior view. ("Lat. antebrach. cutan." visible in purple at center.)
Diagram of segmental distribution of the cutaneous nerves of the right upper extremity. Posterior view. ("Lat. antibrach. cutan." visible in purple at center.)
Latin	n. cutaneus antebrachii lateralis, n. cutaneus antebrachii cutaneous lateralis
Gray's	subject #210 936
From	musculocutaneous nerve
Dorlands / Elsevier	n_05/12565454

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve (or lateral cutaneous nerve of forearm) (branch of musculocutaneous nerve, also sometimes spelled "antebrachial") passes behind the cephalic vein, and divides, opposite the elbow-joint, into a volar and a dorsal branch.

Volar branch

The volar branch (ramus volaris; anterior branch) descends along the radial border of the forearm to the wrist, and supplies the skin over the lateral half of its volar surface.

At the wrist-joint it is placed in front of the radial artery, and some filaments, piercing the deep fascia, accompany that vessel to the dorsal surface of the carpus.

The nerve then passes downward to the ball of the thumb, where it ends in cutaneous filaments.

It communicates with the superficial branch of the radial nerve, and with the palmar cutaneous branch of the median nerve.

Dorsal branch

The dorsal branch (ramus dorsalis; posterior branch) descends, along the dorsal surface of the radial side of the forearm to the wrist.

It supplies the skin of the lower two-thirds of the dorso-lateral surface of the forearm, communicating with the superficial branch of the radial nerve and the dorsal antebrachial cutaneous branch of the radial.

See also

• Medial cutaneous nerve of forearm
• Posterior cutaneous nerve of forearm
• Superior lateral cutaneous nerve of arm

Additional images

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  Cross-section through the middle of upper arm.

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  Cross-section through the middle of the forearm.

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  Cutaneous nerves of right upper extremity. Anterior view.

External links

• Duke Orthopedics lateral_antebrachial_cutaneous_nerve
• Norman/Georgetown lesson2superficveinsupperlimb, Norman/Georgetown lesson5nervesofpostforearm
• EatonHand ner-097
• SUNY Figs 06:03-08 - "Cutaneous nerves of the upper extremity."
• Hand kinesiology at UK nerves/lateralcutan.htm
• lateral+cutaneous+nerve+of+forearm at eMedicine Dictionary

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.