Two undergraduate students at Tulane University turned an ordinary day in a cadaver lab into an unexpected medical discovery. Dominic Roy and Cooper Bruce identified a previously undocumented muscle attachment deep in the pelvis, a finding that could eventually influence hip surgery and other forms of care.

Roy and Bruce were each 19 and college sophomores when they made the discovery in 2024. They were volunteering with R. Shane Tubbs, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and director of surgical anatomy at Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans.

The students were dissecting the hips of several specimens to compare where the iliacus joins the psoas major. The psoas major runs from the lower back through the pelvis to the upper thigh and is involved in bending the hip.

Roy was searching for the iliocapsularis, a muscle located laterally in the hip, when he noticed something unfamiliar. “I spotted a similar looking muscle that was on the other side of the Iliac fascia, close to the inguinal region of the pelvis,” he said.

Roy called Tubbs over and asked him to identify the structure. The professor was also initially unable to explain what they were seeing, prompting the team to search through textbooks and extensive medical literature for a documented match.

That search came up empty, suggesting the structure had not been previously identified. Bruce described the reaction as cautious but unmistakable excitement, particularly because Tubbs could not immediately determine what the students had found.

Physicians from overseas and students preparing to enter medical school also helped investigate the finding. The group gathered around the specimen, prepared it and began taking photographs as the significance of the moment became apparent.

The findings were later published in the journal Clinical Anatomy. Tubbs, who is also a co-editor-in-chief of the human anatomy reference textbook Gray's Anatomy, described the discovery as “serendipity.”

“[They] identified a different part of a muscle that we had not looked at yet,” Tubbs told Fox News Digital. “It's deep in the pelvis and runs out to the front of your hip.”

Researchers have not yet determined the attachment’s function. However, clues suggest it may help stabilize the psoas major, and its fibers attach directly to the front of the hip joint.

The next step is determining whether the attachment can be detected through MRI scans. Imaging could allow researchers to study whether people with the structure experience more symptoms, fewer symptoms or no meaningful difference.

“More research is needed for us to better elucidate what it does,” Tubbs said. “Can you see it on imaging? Does it contribute to patients' problems? But I think this is the first step in identifying something.”

Tubbs said awareness of the small attachment could become valuable as minimally invasive procedures grow more common. Physical therapy might be used to rehabilitate the muscle if weakness contributes to symptoms, while injections could potentially weaken it if excessive activity causes pain or other problems.

The discovery could also matter to surgeons who regularly replace hips or perform other hip operations. Tubbs said surgeons who encounter the muscle might eventually be able to compare its presence with a patient’s symptoms and consider whether cutting it could help.

Researchers did not find the attachment in every cadaver, highlighting the natural variation among human bodies. “When you look beneath the layers of the skin, human beings have lots of variation,” Tubbs said. “I tell our students that no two of you are built the same inside or out.”

The same attachment was found in gorillas, raising the possibility of an evolutionary connection. Bruce said researchers still cannot explain why it remains present in some people but not others, especially because the personal histories and physical activities of anatomical donors may be unknown.

Tubbs said working with actual cadavers allows students to encounter variation that uniform synthetic models cannot reproduce. Roy similarly said medical students need that practical experience before treating patients.

The attachment must still be studied across geographic regions, but Tubbs expects the discovery will eventually appear in anatomy textbooks. Roy and Bruce, now seniors, were inspired to explore careers in medicine, and Roy plans to enter a master’s program in anatomy.

The finding also challenges the idea that every part of the human body has already been documented. As Tubbs said, “The bottom line is that anatomical discovery doesn't end when a textbook is published ... and discovery in the anatomical sciences continues on, even in the year 2026.”