A Rare Case of Facial Artery Branching—A Review of the Literature and a Case Report with Clinical Implications

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Vascular variations appear as morphologically distinct patterns of blood diverging from the most commonly observed vessel patterns. The facial artery is considered to be the main vessel for supplying blood to the anterior part of the face. An anatomical understanding of the facial artery, its course, its topography, and its branches is important in medical and dental practice (especially in neck and face surgery), and is also essential for radiologists to be able to interpret vascular imaging in the face following angiography of the region. A profound knowledge of the arteries in the region will aid in minimizing the risks to the patient. Materials and Methods: In our publication a narrative literature review and a case report are presented. Results: A rare case of a facial artery pattern has been described anatomically for the first time with respect to its course and branching. This variation was found on the left side of a 60-year-old male corpse during anatomical dissection. The anterior branch of the facial artery arched in the direction of the labial angle, and there divided into the inferior and superior labial arteries. At the same time, the posterior branch coursed vertically and superficially to the masseter muscle. It here gave off the premasseteric branch, and continued towards the nose, where it ran below the levator labii superioris and the levator labii superioris alaeque nasi muscles and terminated at the dorsum nasi. Conclusions: Our review of the literature and the case report add to knowledge on the facial artery with respect to its topographical anatomy and its branching and termination patterns, as well as the areas of supply. An exact knowledge of individual facial artery anatomy may play an important role in the planning of flaps or tumor excisions due to the differing vascularization and can also help to prevent artery injuries during aesthetic procedures such as filler and botulinum toxin injections.

Undergraduate medical student perceptions and learning outcomes related to anatomy training using Thiel‐ and ethanol‐glycerin‐embalmed tissues

“…The utility of both these embalming methods can also be seen in anatomical studies concerning head and neck regions conducted on tissues previously used in the classroom. Both ethanol‐glycerin‐ (Hammer et al, 2011; Shin et al, 2016; Cotofana et al, 2017; Planitzer et al, 2017; Lee et al, 2018; Ruiz et al, 2018; Çırak et al, 2020; Siwetz et al, 2021; Jung et al, 2022) and Thiel‐ (Benkhadra et al, 2008; Pilsl & Anderhuber, 2010; Hölzle et al, 2012; Pilsl et al, 2012; Pilsl et al, 2014; Ottone et al, 2016; Pilsl et al, 2016; Bruneder et al, 2018; Bruneder et al, 2022) embalmed specimens were used successfully in macroscopic anatomy studies related to the peripheral nervous system, maxillofacial surgery, and other dental surgical interventions.…”

The Course and Variation of the Facial Vein in the Face—Known and Unknown Facts: An Anatomical Study

“…Only few studies provided the results using anatomical dissection [13,25]. Up to date, no publications showed the schematic detailed variations of the course and patterns of a facial vein in a way they did for the facial artery [7][8][9][10][12][13][14][17][18][19][21][22][23][24]. This given study described, for the first time in detail, not only the variations in the course but also the variations of all tributaries and all inflows of the facial vein.…”

“…In all procedures, knowledge of the vascular anatomy is essential both to improve the results and to minimize the risk of complications [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. There is an abundance of literature on the facial artery, its course, branching and variations [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Much less is known about the anatomy of the facial vein, and its role in blood drainage as well as a boundary structure for fat compartments [ 13 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

Course and Relation of the Facial Vessels—An Anatomical Study

“…Among the features typical for the facial artery as a main feeder to the viscerocranium [18][19][20][21][22] is its branching of the external carotid artery [23] and its crossing of the stylohyoid and digastric muscle medially [24][25][26][27]. It further traverses the mandible anterior to the masseter muscle directed to the medial angle of the eye, while giving off its branches [28,29].…”