An anatomical study of the blood supply of the soleus muscle in humans

Introduction: The soleus muscle is a powerful plantar flexor of the ankle joint and receives its blood supply from several different sources. Aim: This study was done to describe the distribution of the arterial supply of the soleus muscle. Materials and methods: The study was carried out at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria. Forty limbs were dissected, which included specimens from both male and female cadavers. The pattern of arterial supply of the soleus muscle and the distribution of the perforators were studied. Results: The soleus muscle is supplied by perforators of the popliteal, posterior tibial and peroneal arteries, the posterior tibial artery gave 38.80% of total perforators while the peroneal artery gave 33.30% of total perforators and the popliteal artery gave 27.80% of total perforators. Perforators of popliteal artery were larger; 12.9 ± 2.07 cm in length and 2.55 ± 0.214 mmin diameter while those of the posterior tibial artery had a length of 5.1± 0.99 cm and a diameter of 1.93 ±0.25 mmand perforators of the peroneal artery had a length of 3.8±0.98 cm and a diameter of 1.49 ±1.03 mm. Conclusion: The soleus muscle is richly supplied by many arterial pedicles and can be used safely as a free flap, hemisoleus flap or composite flap to cover defects in the lower limb.