Ostrowski P, Bonczar M, Yika ADC, Czekańska H, Batko J, Wojciechowski W, Ghosh SK, Jaworek-Troć J, Piątek-Koziej K, Juszczak A, Gładysz T, Lusina D, Walocha J, Koziej M. The occipital-vertebral anastomosis revisited.
Folia Morphol (Warsz) 2022;
82:615-623. [PMID:
36472395 DOI:
10.5603/fm.a2022.0101]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2022] [Revised: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The goal of the study was to provide relevant data about the location and prevalence of the occipital artery-vertebral artery (OA-VA) anastomosis in patients without visible occlusive disease, as well as to thoroughly discuss the clinical significance of these anastomotic channels. Furthermore, the morphometric properties of the OA and its branches were also analysed.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective study was carried out to indicate anatomical variations, their prevalence, and morphometrical data on the OA and its branches. The study was performed on 55 randomly selected computed tomography angiographies (CTA) of the head and neck region. Each CTA result was analysed bilaterally. Thus, 110 results were originally assessed.
RESULTS
The OA median maximal diameter was demonstrated at 4.85 mm (lower quartile [LQ]: 4.11; upper quartile [UQ]: 5.53) and the median maximal diameter of VA at 3.60 mm (LQ: 2.79; UQ: 4.38). The distances between OA and its branches were also measured giving a median result of 21.73, 30.29, 60.84, 34.88, 18.02, 55.16 mm for the lower and upper sternocleidomastoid branch, meningeal branch, mastoid branch, and descending branch, respectively. The median distance between OA and its first anastomosis was set to be 51.15 mm (LQ: 37.20; UQ: 60.10). Moreover, a set of additional measurements was carried out in order to create a three-dimensional anatomical heat-map of the occurrence of the OA-VA anastomosis.
CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge about the anatomy of the OA-VA anastomosis might be of immense importance to avoid potentially fatal complications during embolisation of the OA and its branches.
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