Anatomical study of the arrangement and attachments of the human medial pterygoid muscle.

The authors have studied the medial pterygoid muscle on 179 fresh cadavers using anatomical dissection and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aim of this study was to define the general morphology and architectural organisation of the human medial pterygoid. Plane by plane dissection, anatomical sections in different spatial planes on half heads and isolated blocks demonstrated that the medial pterygoid has different architectural disposition and insertional zones from those which are normally described. The study has shown that the muscle has a typical penniform structure made up of seven alternating muscular/aponeurotic layers and that the tendinous intramuscular sheets were particularly well developed. This allows supporting a future functional study.