Absence of the posterior tibial artery: implications for free transplants of the fibula.

A well-documented case of absence of the posterior tibial a. is reported. We have studied 40 personal case-records of dissection of the arteries of the leg in fresh corpses. This study allowed classification of the origins of the leg arteries from the popliteal a. into 7 groups. Several findings emerged: 1) the peroneal a. is constant, for phylogenetic and embryologic reasons, 2) the posterior tibial a. is absent in 1 to 5% of cases [1, 2, 4, 6-8] (Fig. 4), in which case the vascularisation of the fibula remains as normal (the proximal epiphysis of the fibula is vascularised by the anterior tibial a., the diaphysis and the distal epiphysis by the peroneal a.). Other anatomic variations may be found: trifurcation of the popliteal a., origin of the anterior tibial a. from the peroneal a., absence of the anterior tibial a., aplasia of the terminal portions of both the anterior and posterior tibial aa. In practice, absence of the posterior tibial a. can be demonstrated by arteriography and doppler ultrasound. We are dubious about the indications for arteriography, which is not always a risk-free examination, and therefore prefer doppler examination with ultrasound, which supplies adequate information in the majority of cases.