Circulation of the Hand, Injection-Corrosion Studies

¹ Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, and the Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest College, Winston-Salem

1. On the basis of the study of seven hands, it appears that this plastic-injection technique can be used to further elucidate the relative vascularity of the component parts of the normal and abnormal hand.

2. As much as one-third of the total vascular bed of the hand lies within the dermis. The volume of the volar dermal vascular bed is approximately twice that of the dorsal vascular bed.

3. There are significant differences in the distribution of the arteries feeding and of the veins draining the vascular bed of the hand. The arteries, in general, lie at a deeper level giving off branches which approach the skin at right angles. On the other hand, the veins lie in a plane of the dermal bed and are separated from it by only a layer of loose connective tissue containing a variable amount of fat.

4. The connection between the distal ends of the proper digital arteries is of interest and worthy of further study because it is of large size, the caliber of the approaching vessels is surprisingly uniform as they near the actual anastomosis, and they bear a surprising resemblance to the arcades which supply the small intestine except that they give off right-angle branches in two planes rather than in one plane.

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