Vascular Microanatomy of the Pontomedullary Junction, Posterior Inferior Cerebellar Arteries, and the Lateral Spinal Arteries

摘要

This study of 25 brains at the pontomedullary junction defined the different possible origins of the perforating arteries and lateral spinal arteries in relation to the posterior inferior cerebellar arteries (PICAs).- If the PICA emerges from the common trunk of the AICA-PICA coming from the basi-lar artery, it never gives perforating arteries or a lateral spinal artery on the lateral surface of the brain stem but supplies blood to a part of the ip-silateral cerebellar hemisphere.- If the PICA arises extradurally at Cl, it never gives perforating arteries for the lateral surface of the brain stem, but it gives pial branches for the posterior surface of the medulla oblongata and is always the origin of the lateral spinal artery.- If the PICA emerges in the intradural vertebral artery, it is the source of the perforating arteries for the lateral surface of the brain stem and of the blood supply of the ipsilateral cerebellum.