Arterial patterns of the human upper limb: update of anatomical variations and embryological development.

The arterial pattern of the upper limb is one of the systems that shows a large number of variations in the adult human body. However, embryological explanations for these variations have been subject to much debate. Recent studies have provided a new classification of the arterial variations in the upper limb, as well as a new model of arterial development based on the study of large anatomical and embryological samples. In the present article, we offer a review of the embryological and morphological data obtained in adults, contrasting them with those found in a new sample of adult material.