TY - JOUR T1 - Stapedial Artery: From Embryology to Different Possible Adult Configurations JF - American Journal of Neuroradiology JO - Am. J. Neuroradiol. DO - 10.3174/ajnr.A6738 AU - S. Bonasia AU - S. Smajda AU - G. Ciccio AU - T. Robert Y1 - 2020/09/03 UR - http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2020/09/03/ajnr.A6738.abstract N2 - 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 ER -