Comparative analysis of the deep muscular fascia od the trunk and limbs.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the morphology of the superficial fascia. Six unembalmed cadavers (3M, 3F, mean age 69 years), neither embalmed nor frozen, were dissected. For each subject, different samples were carried out at the level of the neck, pectoral region, thigh and knee. In-vivo radiological studies were also performed in 10 patients by RMI. The superficial fascia was formed by a layer of connective tissue with many elastic fibres. It is thin in the neck and thorax (151μm) and thicker in the thigh (403μm). In some regions the superficialis fascia divides into two laminae to envelop the platysma muscle, the mammillary gland, the safena vein, the pre-patellar bursa. The superficialis fascia divides the subcutaneous tissue in superficial and deep portions. Some transverse septa connected the superficial fascia to dermis (retinaculum cutis superficialis) or to deep fascia (retinaculum cutis profound) supporting the subcutaneous adipose tissue. The retinaculum cutis superficialis presents similar characteristics in all the regions, whereas the retinaculum cutis profondus presents septa with different thickness, thin in the neck and mammary regions (57μm), thicker in the inferior region of thorax (132μm) and in the thigh (145μm). At the RMI study, the superficial fascia was always well appraisable.