A Rare Anatomical Variation of the Lesser Occipital Nerve

A Bert Chabot; Joe Iwanaga; Aaron S Dumont; R Shane Tubbs

doi:10.7759/cureus.15901

A Rare Anatomical Variation of the Lesser Occipital Nerve

Cureus. 2021 Jun 24;13(6):e15901. doi: 10.7759/cureus.15901. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Authors

A Bert Chabot¹, Joe Iwanaga¹, Aaron S Dumont¹, R Shane Tubbs^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, USA.
² Anatomical Sciences, St. George's University, St. George's, GRD.
³ Department of Neurosurgery and Structural & Cellular Biology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, USA.
⁴ Neurosurgery and Ochsner Neuroscience Institute, Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, USA.

Abstract

The lesser occipital nerve (LON) is a cutaneous branch of the cervical plexus that arises from the second and sometimes the third spinal nerve and innervates the scalp. During routine dissection of the neck, the LON was observed to arise directly from the spinal accessory nerve. The aberrant nerve measured 1.9 mm in diameter and 10.2 cm in length. Although anatomical variations of the LON such as duplication and triplication have been observed, we believe the origination of this nerve directly and exclusively from the spinal accessory nerve is exceedingly rare. The current case adds to the sparse literature on the variations of the LON and might be of interest to clinicians treating neurological conditions or surgeons operating in the area.

Keywords: cadaver; clinical anatomy; lesser occipital nerve; spinal accessory nerve; variation.

Publication types

Case Reports