Microsurgical anatomy of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery.

Fifty cerebellar hemispheres from 25 adult cadavers were examined. The posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA), by definition, arose from the vertebral artery. The vertebral artery was present in 49 and the PICA was present in 42 of the 50 hemispheres. Forty-one of the 42 PICAs arose as a single trunk and 1 arose as a duplicate trunk. The PICA was divided into five segments: the anterior medullary segment lay on the front of the medulla; the lateral medullary segment coursed beside the medulla and extended to the origin of the glossopharyngeal, vagal, and accessory nerves; the tonsillomedullary segment coursed around the caudal half of the cerebellar tonsil; the telovelotonsillar segment coursed in the cleft between the tela choroidea and the inferior medullary velum rostrally and the superior pole of the cerebellar tonsil caudally; and the cortical segment was distributed to the cerebellar surface. Thirty-seven of the 42 PICAs bifurcated into a medial and a lateral trunk. The medial trunk supplied the vermis and the adjacent part of the hemisphere, and the lateral trunk supplied the cortical surface of the tonsil and the hemisphere. The PICA gave off perforating, choroidal, and cortical arteries. The cortical arteries were divided into vermian, tonsillar, and hemispheric groups. Sixteen of the 42 PICAs passed between the rootlets of the accessory nerve, 10 passed between the rootlets of the vagus nerve, 13 passed between the vagus and the accessory nerves, 2 coursed rostral to the glossopharyngeal nerve, and 1 passed between the glossopharyngeal and the vagus nerves.