Author/Editor		Jovanovski, T.; Umek, Nejc; Kansky, Andrej; Cvetko, Erika
Title		Platysma muscle additionally innervated by a variant anterior branch of the great auricular nerve
Type		članek
Publication year		2020
Volume		str. str.
ISSN		0015-5659 - Folia Morphologica
Language		eng
Abstract		Damage to the great auricular nerve, with consequent clinical deficits, is a common surgical complication in facial aesthetic and in head and neck procedures such as parotidectomy, neck dissection, rhytidectomy and platysma flap operations. Hence, a thorough knowledge of nerve anatomy, particularly its potential variations, is critical in reducing the associated operative morbidity. Accordingly, we report an unusual variation of the anterior branch of the great auricular nerve noted in an 81-year-old female cadaver. The nerve was observed to course into the submandibular region anterior and superficial to the internal jugular vein, communicating with the cervical branch of the facial nerve, while independently innervating the platysma muscle. Although several anatomical variations of the branches of the cervical plexus have been documented, our report describes unique innervation of the platysma muscle by the great auricular nerve, which provides a new insight on the motor component of the nerve.
Keywords		anatomic variation rhytidectomy parotidectomy anatomske variacije ritidektomija parotidektomija