Running through the infratemporal fossa is the lingual nerve (i.e. the third branch of the posterior trunk of the mandibular nerve). Due to its location, there are various anatomic structures that might entrap and potentially compress the lingual nerve. These anatomical sites of entrapment are: (a) the partially or completely ossified pterygospinous or pterygoalar ligaments; (b) the large lamina of the lateral plate of the pterygoid process; and (c) the medial fibers of the anterior region of the lateral pterygoid muscle. Due to the connection between these nerve and anatomic structures, a contraction of the lateral pterygoid muscle, for example, might cause a compression of the lingual nerve. Any variations in the course of the lingual nerve can be of clinical significance to surgeons and neurologists because of the significant complications that might occur. To name a few of such complications, lingual nerve entrapment can lead to: (a) numbness, hypoesthesia or even anesthesia of the tongue's mucous glands; (b) anesthesia and loss of taste in the anterior two-thirds of the tongue; (c) anesthesia of the lingual gums; and (d) pain related to speech articulation disorder. Dentists should, therefore, be alert to possible signs of neurovascular compression in regions where the lingual nerve is distributed.
Cranial Fossa, Middle ; Foramen Ovale ; pathology ; Humans ; Ligaments ; pathology ; Lingual Nerve ; pathology ; Nerve Compression Syndromes ; complications ; pathology ; Ossification, Heterotopic ; pathology ; Paresthesia ; etiology ; Pterygoid Muscles ; pathology ; Sphenoid Bone ; pathology ; Tongue ; innervation

Aim of the present study was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on anatomy teaching to medical and dental students comparing the traditional anatomy teaching with three remote teaching modalities. A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical and dental students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Four hundred and twenty students who attended anatomy classes during COVID-19 outbreak in Greece, were asked to fill in a questionnaire of 22 questions evaluating the formats of the different courses provided. Each student was asked to complete the questionnaire anonymously via the Google Forms® platform. A total of 200 students participated. During the lockdown, 59.5% of students attended all online anatomy lectures compared to 44.5% in the pre-pandemic year. Overall, the higher percentage of 73.5% was satisfied with the traditional anatomy teaching, instead of 56% which were satisfied with the effectiveness of online anatomy lectures. Asking whether any remote educational method can partially or completely replace the traditional anatomy teaching, the majority of students replied “no” for all the three remote modalities. The traditional anatomy teaching remains the most preferred and effective teaching modality. The students ranked online anatomy lectures and pre-recorded anatomy lectures in second place in terms of effectiveness and preference. The development of remote learning methods has increased students’ active participation in anatomy lessons, but significantly negatively affected the students’ performance at exams. Remote learning cannot replace the traditional anatomy teaching method, but online lectures could be incorporated into anatomy curricula as an additional tool.

Aim of the present study was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on anatomy teaching to medical and dental students comparing the traditional anatomy teaching with three remote teaching modalities. A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical and dental students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Four hundred and twenty students who attended anatomy classes during COVID-19 outbreak in Greece, were asked to fill in a questionnaire of 22 questions evaluating the formats of the different courses provided. Each student was asked to complete the questionnaire anonymously via the Google Forms® platform. A total of 200 students participated. During the lockdown, 59.5% of students attended all online anatomy lectures compared to 44.5% in the pre-pandemic year. Overall, the higher percentage of 73.5% was satisfied with the traditional anatomy teaching, instead of 56% which were satisfied with the effectiveness of online anatomy lectures. Asking whether any remote educational method can partially or completely replace the traditional anatomy teaching, the majority of students replied “no” for all the three remote modalities. The traditional anatomy teaching remains the most preferred and effective teaching modality. The students ranked online anatomy lectures and pre-recorded anatomy lectures in second place in terms of effectiveness and preference. The development of remote learning methods has increased students’ active participation in anatomy lessons, but significantly negatively affected the students’ performance at exams. Remote learning cannot replace the traditional anatomy teaching method, but online lectures could be incorporated into anatomy curricula as an additional tool.

The current cadaveric report aims to present a coexistence of two uncommon variants of the posterior leg compartment. The variations were detected, during classical dissection in an 84-year-old donated male cadaver. On the left lower limb, the gastrocnemius muscle was identified as having a third head that was attached to the lateral head. This variant is known as gastrocnemius tertius muscle and was bilaterally identified. The left-sided plantaris muscle had two distinct heads that fused into a common tendon that was inserted into the calcaneal tuberosity. Knowledge of these variants is important, due to their close relationship with the popliteal neurovascular bundle. Clinicians should be aware, to avoid pitfalls and take them into account in their differential diagnosis.

The current cadaveric report describes an unusual morphology of the sartorius muscle (SM), the biceps-bicaudatus variant. The SM had two (lateral and medial) heads, with distinct tendinous origins from the anterior superior iliac spine.The lateral head was further split into a lateral and a medial bundle. The anterior cutaneous branch of the femoral nerve emerged between the origins of the lateral and medial heads. SM morphological variants are exceedingly uncommon, with only a few documented cases in the literature, and several terms used for their description. Although their rare occurrence, they may play an important role in the differential diagnosis of entrapment syndromes, in cases of neural compressions, such as meralgia paresthetica, while careful dissection during the superficial inter-nervous plane of the direct anterior hip approach is of utmost importance, to avoid adverse effects due to the altered SM morphology.

The 7th cervical vertebra (C7) is described as having the most prominent spinous process (SP) and is characterized as the “vertebra prominens” (VP) of the cervical spine in anatomy textbooks. The VP is an important anatomical landmark of the neck for clinical examination and therapeutic intervention. The present study identifies the level of the most prominent SP of the cervical and uppermost thoracic vertebrae in a cadaveric cohort. Thirty-nine (23 female and 16 male) cadavers of a mean age of 77.5 years were investigated in a prone position and a certain cervical kyphotic bending. The most prominent SP, at the base of the neck, was palpated and marked with a wedging nail into the SP of the vertebra. The cervical region was dissected, and a blind investigator examined whether the nail was placed into the SP of C7 or the SP of another upper or lower vertebra. In 19 out of 39 cadavers (48.7%), the C7 was identified as the VP (typical anatomy), followed by the C6 (in 14 cadavers, 35.9%), C5 (in 4 cadavers, 10.3%). In 2 cadavers (5.1%) the first thoracic vertebra was identified as having the most prominent SP. Although C7 is described as the VP, in the present study the SP of C7 was the most prominent in less than 50%.The high variable projection level of the most prominent SP of the cervical vertebra holds great clinical significance for spine examination, neck surgery, and spinal anesthesia.