Middle temporal veins - a potential hazard in the Gillies' Operation.

In an undergraduate practical anatomy class, large middle temporal veins were observed in one cadaver following reflection of the temporal fascia. A survey of their form, size and arrangement was undertaken. The veins of this region were examined in 20 cadavers. Middle temporal veins, which varied markedly in size, were present in 11 cadavers. Each had two to four tributaries, parallel to the muscle fisciculi draining downwards into the main stem which lay obliquely across temporalis muscle from the upper lateral rim of the orbit to the root of the zygomatic process. In the Gillies' operation for the elevation of a fractured zygoma, an elevator is passed blindly down upon temporalis muscle, deep to the temporal fascia and the depressed bone. The procedure may result in damage to these veins.