Abstract
The first purpose of this study was to observe superior gluteal nerve, artery, and vein of intramuscular injection sites in 24 buttocks of 14 cadavers. As intramuscular injection sites in the buttocks “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks” and “the site of Clark” were taken in this study. When the injection needle prick the top of gluteus minimus muscle, 20 buttocks (83.3％) were observed damage to the backward branch of the superior gluteal nerve on “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks.” And “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks” had 2.6 times higher risk of damaging to the superior gluteal nerve than “the site of Clark.” Therefore “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks” had high risk of damaging to the superior gluteal nerve, artery, and vein. The second purpose of this study was to measure sebaceous and muscular thickness of intramuscular injection sites in 76 buttocks of 43 cadavers. The sebaceous thickness of “the site of Clark” had a significantly thinner than “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks” (p＜0.01). The gluteus medius muscular thickness of “the site of Clark” was thicker than “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks (p＜0.01)”. These results were suggested that in comparison with “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks,” “the site of Clark” is a safety site of intramuscular injection in the buttocks, because it has lower damages to the superior gluteal nerve, thinner sebaceous thickness, and thicker gluteus mediusmuscular thickness than “right and/or left upper quadrant of the buttocks.”
