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Lee: The Third Head of Biceps Brachii Muscle in Korean: Anatomical Study
Original Article

Korean J Phys Anthropol 2013;26(3):97-100.

Published online: 20 March 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11637/kjpa.2013.26.3.97

The Third Head of Biceps Brachii Muscle in Korean: Anatomical Study

Je-Hun Lee

Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Konyang University of Korea

Correspondence to: Je-Hun Lee (The Konyang University of Korea, Daejeon 302-718, Korea) E-mail: leejehun@konyang.ac.kr

∗ We thank Seung-Ho Han, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Chungang University of Korea, for help in processing the research. This research was supported by basic science research program through the national research foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (NO.2012R1A1A2007099). The author(s) agree to abide by the good publication practice guideline for medical journals. The author(s) declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Received 8 August 2013       Revised 12 September 2013       Accepted 30 September 2013

Copyright © 2013 Korean Association of Physical Anthropologists

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the incidence of third head of biceps brachii (THBB) for understanding unexpected cases in clinical practice. The sample consisted of 214 upper extremities from 107 adult cadavers donated to science (70 males and 37 females; age, 51–87 years). Cases with pathological changes or trauma to the upper limbs were excluded. THBB was found in 14 of the 214 upper extremities. The incidence of variation was approximately 6.5%. THBB was found in 10 male limbs and 4 female limbs, and none of the cases was bilateral. THBB was a flat muscular belly-like structure that originated from the anteromedial surface of the humerus between the insertion of the coracobrachialis and the origin of the brachialis. This finding may be clinically important because the musculocutaneous nerve is subjected to compression by the bulky third head.

Keywords: Third head, Biceps brachii, Musculocutaneous nerve, Anatomy

References

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Fig. 1.
The third head of the biceps brachii. The distal part of the biceps brachii is detached from the bone to show the third head. LHBB: long head of biceps brachii, SHBB: short head of biceps brachii, THBB: third head of biceps brachii, CB: coracobrachialis muscle, BA: brachialis muscle, MCN: musculocutaneous nerve, MN: median nerve.
kjpa-26-97f1.tif
Table 1.
Comparison of incidence of third head of biceps brachii
Year Population Incidence of THBB(%) Sample size
1984 China 8.0  
  Japan 18.0  
1999 South Africa 20.5(Black) 73(Black)
    8.3(White) 12(White)
1999 Spain 1.3 32
1998 Brazil 20.0(White) 100(White)
    9.0(Black) 100(Black)
1999 Turkey 16.7 80
2006 India 3.3 48
2008 India 3.3 48
2011 North India 2.3 63
2013 Korea 6.5 107

THBB, third head of the biceps brachii.

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