The morphology of the menisci of 300 knee joints of the Chinese adults have beenstudied. Measurements are only taken in those specimens with known sex (male 100,female 60). In 48%, the width of the lateral part of the lateral meniscus is from1/3--1/2 of the whole width of the meniscus. The true disc like lateral meniscus ispresent in 3.67%. In 59.33%, the width of the posterior part of the medial meniscusis from 1/3--2/5 of the whole width of the meniscus. According to the size of theopening of the medial meniscus, it can be divided into 3 types, the intermediate typeis the most common one (48.71%). The transverse ligament and the menisco-femoralligament are present in 55.33% and 98.67% respectively. No statistical difference be-tween sexes or sides in the percentages of various patterns is found. Tle mean valueof the male is always greater than that of the female in various measurements, but theratio of these values of both sexes in each measurement is within the limits of 0.80--0.93.It means that the menisci of the male is larger than that of the female, but no statisticaldifference is present in the proportions between various parts of the meniscus in bothsexes. The morphology of the menisci in the Chinese and the Japanese is similar, exceptthe medial meniscus is thicker and the popliteal sulcus is wider in the Japanese. Incomparing the menisci between the Chinese and the Americans or Europeans, we foundthat in the Chinese the width of the lateral part and the sagittal diameter of the lateralmeniscus are larger; the transverse ligament and the menisco-femoral ligament presentmore; the popliteal sulcus, the width of the posterior part and the opening of the medialmeniscus are wider. The relationship of the morphology of menisci to the different oc-currence of injury in medial or lateral meniscus between the Chinese and the Americansor Europeans is discussed.

The menisci of 180 knee joints of children below eight years of age were studied and compared with those of the adults reported by the same author in a separate study. As the child growing, the morphological changes of the medial meniscus in this series of specimens are: increasing of the relative width of its posterior part, decreasing of the ratio of the width of the intermediate part to its posterior part; increasing of the angle between its intermediate part and posterior part up to right angle; changing of its shape from C shape to G shape; and widening of its opening. All of these changes appear more rapidly around the age of one year. The morphological changes of the lateral meniscus accompanying the increase of age are: increasing of the relative width of its lateral part first and decreasing afterwards; decreasing of the ratio of the width of its opening to the length of its peripheral margin first and increasing afterwards; decreasing of the relative width of the popliteal sulcus and shifting of the position of this sulcus posteriorly. All of these changes appear also more rapidly around the age of one year and beyond eight years old. More rapid change of the menisci around one year of age may be correlated with the beginning of standing and walking. The formation of the disc-like meniscus was also discussed.

The description of the origin of the arteries supplying the middle and lower thirds of the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) was not consistent in the literature. 50 specimens of SCM on adult cadavers were studied with macro-micro-dissections. The relative distribution areas of various muscular arteries of SCM were displayed on a diagram. It was clearly shown that the upper, middle and lower thirds of SCM were mainly supplied by the muscular branches of the occipital, external carotid and superior thyroid arteries respectively. In 39 out of the 50 specimens, there was an additional muscular artery coming from a branch of the subclavian artery to supply the origin of SCM. The distribution area of this additional artery was so limited that it could not be considered as one of the main muscular arteries of SCM.Thus the muscular arteries of SCM came from different origins. If a single- eaded myocutaneous flap of SCM is made, seperate muscular artery must be peserved for each head of the muscle to avoid necrosis of the muscular flap as well as the remaining muscle. If free arterial pedicle is employed, the musular branch of the external carotid or superior thyroid artery is the artery of choice since either branch is superficially located and has a diameter of 1.1 mm on average.The muscular arteries of SCM entered the muscle in a dispersed way, and there was no vascular porta formed on SCM.

It is scanty in reports about the anatomy of the medial thoracic free flap, that which one of the perforating arteries of the internal thoracic artery is the main arterial source of this flap is still in dispute. This investigation was based on dissection of 50 sides of adult cadavers under the operating microscope.Among the perforating arteries of the internal thoracic artery in the upper four intercostal spaces, the second perforating artery presents a higher incidence of occurence, it also possesses a larger caliber and distributing area. So that it would be the first choice as a pedicle artery in the transplantation of the medial thoracic free flap. The next choice is the first perforating artery, because its distributing area is larger than that of the third as well as the fourth arteries.The second intercostal space is the widest among all other spaces. The internal thoarcic artery in this space is located more superficial and stands further apart from the lateral border of the sternum than that in the other three intercostal spaces. All these advantages are in favor for taking the second perforating artery as the pedicle artery of the free flap or even to take the internal thoracic artery of the same segment together with it. If a portion of the second costal cartilage isresected, the first two perforating arteries and their related portion of internal thoracic artery can be involved in the pedicle, and the area of the skin flap will be increased to a large extent.Some of the applied anatomy of the transplantation of the medial thoracic free flap has been discussed.

The vessels of the medial skin flap of the leg was investigated on 50 cases of adult cadavers. Cutaneous branches of arteria tiblalis posterior distribute to the lower half of the medial surface of the leg, and the area of distribution is 134.03 cm2 in average. The muscular branches of the arteria tibialis posterior mainly distribute to the muscle flexor digitorum longus, and muscle soleus. Some attentions about taking free medial skin flap of the leg have been discussed.

The m. extensor hallucis brevis and m. extensor digitorum brevis and their blood vessels and nerves of 30 feet of Chinese cadavers are observed and measured under the operative microscope. A. tarsea lateralis and the lateral branch of nervus peroneus profundus are the best choice as the pedicle of the musculo-cutaneous flaps at dorsalis pedis. According to necessities the size of muscle may be detected randomly from medial to lateral.

There are 2 sets of arteries supplying the abdominal skin flap of the rat.The medial set consists of the medial branch of the lateral thoracic artery,the superficial epigastric artery and the perforating arteries and the lateral set is composed of the lateral branch of the lateral thoracic artery,the superficial circumflex iliac artery and the branches of the lumbar arteries.The former supplies the medial 2 thirds and the latter the lateral third of the abdominal wall.There is no significant difference in the number of vessels and the area fraction between the medial and lateral anastomotic areas.The abdominal skin flap of the rat is thinner than the human one and contain a little amount of fat and a layer of panniculus carnosus.The vascula-ture of the abdominal skin flap can be divided into 5 layers,that is,the superficial fascial,the pannicular carnosal,the profound dermal,the subpapillary and the papillary layers,which is similar to the vasculature of the human abdominal flap.But in the rat,there is no arterial anastomosis in the reticular layer of the dermis of the abdominal flap,which might be relatded to the insufficient thickness of the flap of the rat.

Fifty adult lower limbs were studied macromicroscopically to reveal the extrinsic blood vessels of the menisci of the knee joint. It was found that the menisci were supplied from 2 sources, the genicular branches (except the superior lateral genicular branch) of the popliteal artery, and the descending branch of the descending genicular artery. A pair of additional genicular branches with independent stems from the popliteal artery, named as the posterior medial and the posterior lateral genicular arteries by the authors, constantly supplied the posterior part of both the menisci. The arterial branches formed a circular anastomotic arch around the menisci with small branches springing from the arch and getting into the menisci. The arterial arch communicated with the femoral and the popliteal arteries and became an important stem of a reentry channol in cases of popliteal artery occlusion.

The azygos system was studied on 78 Chinese adult cadavers. The occurrence of the type of coexisted azygos, hemiazygos and accessory hemiazygos veins is 64.10%. The components of hemiazygos and accessory hemiazygos veins are sub- ject to such a large variation that the division of the azygos system into three major trunks is not always practicable since no generally-agreed criterion can be observed. The authors, according to Seib's suggestion! classify the azygos system into three types, that is, the double trunk, the intermediate, and the single trunk types, based on the condition of the interruptions of the hemiazygos. system Intermediate type occurs most frequently and its occurrence is 52.56% in this series.The interruptions of the hemiazygos system and the communications between azygos vein and hemiazygos system are far more numerous in Chinese than in Caucasians. The racial difference of the azygos system between Chinese and Caucasian subjects suggests that the azygos system of the Caucasians more likely belongs to the embryonic type. The middle segment of the azygos vein runs to the left of the midline in adults, and the origin of the azygos system usually connects with the inferior vena cava or the renal vein.The findings mentioned above might arouse the interest or the attention of the clinicians.

The blood vessels and nerves of the sole skin of 50 feet of Chinese adult cadavers were observed with an operative microscope. The blood supply of the central part of the sole comes mainly from the medial and lateral plantar ar teries (MPA and LPA). Their average diameter is larger than 2.0mm and their trunk is usually longer than 80mm. When a skin flap is designed, the cutaneous branches from LPA are much better than those from MPA so far as the number of the branches, their external diameter and the extent of the distribution are considered.When the sole skin is stripped away, the cut ends of the cutaneous arteries present a multiple dot-like appearance on the surface of the superficial fascia. The external diameter of the arterial branches, the number of the branches in an unit area, and the total area of the cross section of the branches are different among the regions of the heel and the metatarsal heads, and the central part of the sole. They vary with the weight born on each region.All the cutaneous arteries of the sole are accompanied with veins respectively. Most of the MPA and LPA are accompanied with two veins with a diameter larger than 1.9mm on average. The two veins terminate by joining into two posterior tibial veins.