Contribution to the study of the arterial nutrition of the cervical spinal cord.

The feeding of the anterior spinal artery of the cervical cord is very poor. Angiographic studies have shown that only two to three radiculomedullar arteries assure the feeding of this arterial axis. Since it is possible that smaller feeding arteries exist, which are not visible on a conventional X-ray study, we have reviewed cases with arteriovenous aneurysms or vascularized tumors in the cervical region, and obstructions of the vertebral arteries. In these cases, the feeding arteries may be hypertrophic. In spite of being hypertrophic, their number is not increased, and the statistical proportion is the same as in the studies carried out in normal cases.