Anatomy

Neurovascular Anatomy

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Neurovascular Anatomy, Neurologic Vascular Anatomy, Vascular Anatomy of the Brain, Cerebrovascular System, Cerebral Vessel

  • See Also
  1. Carotid Artery
  2. Vertebral Vein
  3. Jugular Vein
  • Background
  1. Brain is supplied by two pairs of arteries
    1. Bilateral Internal Carotid Arteries (anterior)
    2. Bilateral Vertebral Arteries (posterior)
  2. Anterior Circulation (internal carotid distribution)
    1. Supplies the frontal, parietal and part of the Temporal Lobe
  3. Posterior Circulation (Vertebral arteries)
    1. Supplies the Occipital Lobe, Cerebellum, Brainstem and part of the Temporal Lobe
  4. Circle of Wills
    1. Anterior and Posterior Circulation are interconnected
    2. Redundant pathways (variable among individual patients).
  1. Vertebral Artery (Posterior Circulation) origins
    1. Both left and right Vertebral arteries arise in the upper chest from the subclavian arteries
  2. Common Carotid Artery (Anterior Circulation) origins
    1. Right common Carotid Artery originates from the subclavian artery (same as the Vertebral Artery)
      1. Origin is medial to the right Vertebral Artery origin
    2. Left common Carotid Artery originates directly from the aortic arch
      1. Left common carotid origin on the aorta is between the two subclavian artery origins
  1. Main Source: Two Internal Carotid Arteries
  2. Internal Carotid Arteries divide to form
    1. Anterior Cerebral Artery (supplies medial Cerebral Hemisphere)
    2. Middle Cerebral Artery (supplies lateral Cerebral Hemisphere)
  3. Function
    1. Supplies Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe and superior Temporal Lobe (majority of cerebral circulation)
    2. Obstruction: Contralateral motor and sensory deficit
      1. See Anterior Cerebral Artery CVA
      2. See Middle Cerebral Artery CVA
  1. Main Source: Two Vertebral Artery
  2. Vertebral arteries combine to form Basilar Artery
    1. Basilar divides to form posterior cerebral arteries
  3. Function
    1. Supplies Occipital Lobe, inferior Temporal Lobe, Brain Stem, Cerebellum
    2. Obstruction: Vision Loss and Vertigo
      1. See Vertebrobasilar CVA
      2. See Posterior Cerebral Artery CVA
      3. See Posterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery CVA
  1. Anterior Communicating Artery
    1. Connects anterior cerebral arteries together
  2. Posterior communicating arteries (2)
    1. Connects each internal carotid to Basilar Artery
  • Anatomy
  • Images General
  1. neuroCerebralArtery.png
  2. neuroBrainVesselsVentricleThirdRoofGrayBB565.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  3. entSkullMiddleMeningealArteryIllustrationGrayBB1198.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  4. middleMeningealArtery.jpg
  • Anatomy
  • Images Venous
  1. neuroBrainVeinsGrayBB566.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  2. neuroBrainVeinsGrayBB568.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  3. neuroBrainVeinGrayBB769.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  4. neuroBrainVeinsSkullBaseGrayBB569.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  5. neuroBrainVeinsSkullBaseGrayBB570.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  6. neuroBrainVeinsSkullFloorGrayBB766.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  7. neuroSagittalSinusGrayBB1196.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  1. neuroCvCircleWillisGrayBB516.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  2. neuroCvCircleWillisGrayBB519.gif Lewis (1918) Gray's Anatomy 20th ed (in public domain at Yahoo or BartleBy)
  • References
  1. Gilman (1989) Manter and Gatz Essentials of Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology, Davis, p. 216-21
  2. Goldberg (2014) Clinical Neuroanatomy, Medmaster, p. 6-15
  3. Netter (1997) Atlas Human Anatomy, ICON Learning, p. 130-9