Axillary Arch

The common variety of axillary arch is a fleshy slip of varying dimensions, often divided by a tendinous intersection, which extends from latissimus dorsi, through the axillary fascia, to pectoralis major, or to the short head of biceps brachii, or to the coracoid process of the scapula. Slips arising from digitations of serratus anterior on ribs 6 and 7 and joining pectoralis minor or coracobrachialis have also been described as axillary arch muscles. Axillary arch muscles were discovered by Ramsay in 1795. In his 1813 article, Ramsay remarked that ...." This body is composed of an oblong muscle, stretched from the pectoral muscle to the latismus (sic) dorsi and teres major, which, in its violent contractions, must prove inconvenient to the axillary arteries, veins, and nerves, which lie within this muscle. It was not known in Edinburgh or London, when I demonstrated it, and is now detected in one of thirty subjects, when dissectors are attentive.".... Other studies report a dissecting room frequency of about 5-7%.

Langer (1846) is also credited with an early description of this, sometimes clinically troublesome, variation. See also Latissimus dorsi and Pectoralis major.

In April 1854, John Struthers reported that several (unnamed) anatomists "noticed that, occasionally, a slip of muscle is prolonged from the latissimus dorsi, across the axilla, to join the tendon of the pectoralis major, coracobrachialis, or the fascia over the biceps. This variety has occurred in 8 out of 105 subjects dissected in my rooms since the first instance was noted."

Syn.: m. achselbogen, pectorodorsalis, Langer's muscle.

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