An unusual duplication of the palmaris longus muscle

Introduction The palmaris longus muscle is one of the most variable muscles in the human body [1] . It usually arises from the common flexor origin at the medial epicondyle of the humerus, and from the intermuscular septum. It inserts into the central palmar surface of the palmar aponeurosis. The palmaris longus is an important muscle for hand surgeons as it is commonly used in tendon graft and tendon transfer procedures. The muscle is typically straightforward to access and can be sacrificed without significant functional deficits [2, 3] . Sometimes, however, harvesting of the muscle can be complicated by an absence of the muscle or by any number of anatomical variations. Its variations include complete agenesis, duplication or triplication, variations in the location and shape of its muscle belly, aberrant attachments, and accessory slips [1] . Here we report a cadaver with an aberrant duplicated palmaris longus muscle with an unusual insertion and a separate accessory muscle belly with a variant origin.