PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - S. Bonasia
AU  - S. Smajda
AU  - G. Ciccio
AU  - T. Robert
TI  - Stapedial Artery: From Embryology to Different Possible Adult Configurations
AID  - 10.3174/ajnr.A6738
DP  - 2020 Sep 03
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2020/09/03/ajnr.A6738.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2020/09/03/ajnr.A6738.full
AB  - SUMMARY: The stapedial artery is an embryonic artery that represents the precursor of some orbital, dural, and maxillary branches. Although its embryologic development and transformations are very complex, it is mandatory to understand the numerous anatomic variations of the middle meningeal artery. Thus, in the first part of this review, we describe in detail the hyostapedial system development with its variants, referring also to some critical points of ICA, ophthalmic artery, trigeminal artery, and inferolateral trunk embryology. This basis will allow the understanding of the anatomic variants of the middle meningeal artery, which we address in the second part of the review.MMAmiddle meningeal arteryOAophthalmic arterySAstapedial artery