Anatomy and clinical implications of the sternalis muscle: A literature review

Abstract

The sternalis muscle (SM) is an inconsistent and highly uncommon structure among the muscles of the anterior chest wall (POVEDA et al., 2013). It lies between the superficial fascia and the pectoral fascia, found in about 8% of the population (SNOSEK et al., 2014). The frequency of its occurrence varies significantly among different ethnic groups, being more prevalent in the Chinese population at 23.5% and less prevalent in the Taiwanese population at 1% (RAIKOS et al., 2011; VISHAL et al., 2013), while its incidence is 4.4% in the European population and 8.4% in the African population (LOUKAS et al., 2004).