Isabella G McCormack1, Lu Xu2, John Nerva1, John F Berry1, Miguel Melgar3, Grzegorz Wysiadecki4, Jerzy Walocha5, Joe Iwanaga6, Aaron S Dumont1, R Shane Tubbs7. 1. Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 2. Department of Structural and Cellular Biology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 3. Memorial Neurosciences Center, Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, Gulfport, Mississippi, USA. 4. Department of Normal and Clinical Anatomy, Chair of Anatomy and Histology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland. 5. Department of Anatomy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland. 6. Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Department of Neurology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Electronic address: iwanagajoeca@gmail.com. 7. Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Department of Structural and Cellular Biology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Department of Neurology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Department of Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Department of Neurosurgery and Ochsner Neuroscience Institute, Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George's University, St. George's, Grenada; Queensland University, Brisbane, Australia.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The blood supply to the skull base is important to surgeons and those performing interventional and diagnostic procedures in this region. However, 1 vessel with a vast distribution in this area, the dorsal meningeal artery (DMA), has had few anatomic studies performed to investigate not only its normal anatomy but also its variations. Therefore the current study aimed to analyze the DMA via cadaveric dissection. METHODS: In 10 adults, latex-injected, cadaveric heads (20 sides), the DMA was dissected using a surgical microscope. This artery and its branches were documented and measured. RESULTS: A DMA was identified on all sides. In the majority (85%), it was a branch of the meningohypophysial trunk or common stem with either the inferior hypophysial or tentorial arteries and always had branches that traversed the basilar venous plexus. Multiple branches of the DMA were identified and categorized as bony, dural, neural, and vascular. CONCLUSIONS: Surgeons operating at the skull base or clinicians interpreting imaging of this area should have a good working knowledge of the DMA and its typical and variant anatomy.
BACKGROUND: The blood supply to the skull base is important to surgeons and those performing interventional and diagnostic procedures in this region. However, 1 vessel with a vast distribution in this area, the dorsal meningeal artery (DMA), has had few anatomic studies performed to investigate not only its normal anatomy but also its variations. Therefore the current study aimed to analyze the DMA via cadaveric dissection. METHODS: In 10 adults, latex-injected, cadaveric heads (20 sides), the DMA was dissected using a surgical microscope. This artery and its branches were documented and measured. RESULTS: A DMA was identified on all sides. In the majority (85%), it was a branch of the meningohypophysial trunk or common stem with either the inferior hypophysial or tentorial arteries and always had branches that traversed the basilar venous plexus. Multiple branches of the DMA were identified and categorized as bony, dural, neural, and vascular. CONCLUSIONS: Surgeons operating at the skull base or clinicians interpreting imaging of this area should have a good working knowledge of the DMA and its typical and variant anatomy.