Anterior belly anomalies of the digastric muscle: Case report

Abstract

We report two cases of anomalous digastric muscles that were found during routine dissections of the submental region. Our first case was an 84-year old male cadaver who had bilateral and symmetric accessory anterior bellies of the digastric muscle. A unilateral accessory anterior belly of the digastric muscle with an accessory muscle bundle lying transversally between the two anterior bellies of a 60-year old male cadaver was observed in the second case. In the first case, the anterior bellies and accessory anterior bellies were attached to the mandible digastric fossa. In the second case, anterior bellies and an accessory anterior belly originated from the base of the chin and from digastric fossa and were fused at the beginning. It is important to be aware of possible occurrences of such anomalies during surgical procedures of the submental region.