Origin of the anterior spinal artery

Abstract

This investigation was designed to extend our present knowledge of the origin of the anterior spinal a. and is based on 80 brains of human cadavers. The anterior spinal a. is usually formed rostrally by the union of the anterior spinal branches from the intracranial segments of the vertebral aa. In this study, we observed three different locations of the origin of the anterior spinal a. Each type has different characteristics. A bilateral origin (type I) was present in 60 specimens (75%). This type could be further subdivided according to the caliber of the arteries, into the following subtypes: "balanced" (type Ia 42.5%), right-dominated (type Ib 17.5%), and left-dominated (type Ic 15%). A unilateral origin (type II) was found in 9 specimens (11.3%), and an origin in an intervertebral transverse anastomosis was demonstrated in 11 (13.8%). In all cases, the anterior spinal a. had an average caliber of 1.145 +/- 0.12 mm.

The anterior spinal artery origin: a microanatomical study

“…However, these classifications are based purely on anatomical grounds. 7,9,15 On the basis of our findings, we propose a new classification system. The main advantage of this classification system is that it has clinical, as well as surgical and endovascular relevance.…”

“…[5][6][7] The arteries in the posterior circulation show greater anatomical variations than cerebral arteries in other locations. 1,5,[8][9][10][11][12] The ASA is no exception. In our study, we did not find any ASA defined in textbooks as the ASA that arises from the fusion of two paired and symmetric left and right rami originating from the V4 portion of the VA.…”

Arteries of the Spinal Cord

“…In 66.25% of cases the two spinal branches joined at the junction between the medulla oblongata and spinal cord, while in 12.5% of cases it extended up to levels C2 and C3 of the cervical spinal cord before joining. In two cases (2.5%), the two spinal arteries did not fuse and remained duplicated (Gövsa et al 1996). The anterior spinal artery has also previously been reported as being duplicated in the cervical segment of the spinal cord (Brugieries et al 1990).…”

“…The anterior spinal artery is commonly formed rostrally from the junction of the two spinal branches, each originating from one vertebral artery. This usually occurs intracranially or near the midline on the anterior aspect of the medulla oblongata, at the level of the olive (Tveten 1976;Rodriguez-Baeza et al 1989;Gövsa et al 1996). In 66.25% of cases the two spinal branches joined at the junction between the medulla oblongata and spinal cord, while in 12.5% of cases it extended up to levels C2 and C3 of the cervical spinal cord before joining.…”

“…Because of the clinical importance, the arterial blood supply to the spinal cord has been exhaustively examined and discussed via cadaver-based, angiographic, and advanced imaging studies (Romanes 1965;Lazorthes et al 1971;Dommisse 1973;Rodriguez-Baeza et al 1989;Gövsa et al 1996;Koshino et al 1999;Biglioli et al 2000;Lo et al 2002;Kudo et al 2003;Yoshioka et al 2003;Kawaharada et al 2004;Nijenhuis et al 2007;Backes et al 2008;Soubeyrand et al 2011;Gao et al 2013).…”