2/Everyone knows about the blood supply to the brain. Circle of Willis anatomy is king and loved by everyone, while the vascular anatomy of the blood supply to the dura is the poor, wicked step child of vascular anatomy that is often forgotten
3/But dural vascular anatomy & supply are important, especially now that MMA embolizations are common for chronic recurrent subdurals. It also important for understanding dural arteriovenous fistulas as well.
4/Although we talk about individual vessels feeding the dura, it should actually be thought of more as a vascular network. Anastomoses among the dural vessels are common and plentiful, as is often seen with external carotid networks.
5/The largest & most important dural vessel is the middle meningeal artery or MMA. It arises from the internal maxillary artery or IMAX. I remember that b/c Mortal Kombat & other MMA type fighting is commonly shown in IMAX theaters.
6/MMA enters at foramen spinosum.
At the skullbase, foramen ovale & spinosum together look like a high heel shoe footprint
Spinosum is the heel of the footprint. I remember this b/c that’s the high heel spike and SPinosum & SPike sound alike. I always look for this footprint
7/After spinosum, the MMA takes a sharp, corkscrew-like turn lateral & anterior following the curvature of the middle cranial fossa.
This gives it a very characteristic angiographic appearance—always look for the sharp turn.
I remember that the artery SPINs after SPINosum
8/MMA immediately gives off a tiny petrous branch and then splits into anterior (frontal) & posterior (parietal) divisions. I think it looks like an MMA fighter celebrating their victory with their two arms in the air
9/Post division is smaller & has branches covering the posterior convexity. Its territory is draped over the back of the calvarium the way MMA fighters drape flags over their backs after winning. So it covers the back of the calvarium like the flag covers the MMA fighter’s back
10/Ant division is larger & has branches that anastomose to the contralateral MMA. You can remember this b/c opposing MMA fighters touch gloves before the fight, and gloves are out in front. So ant division touches the opposite side like opponents touching gloves before a fight
11/Anterior division passes under the pterion, a junction of four calvarial bones. This renders it vulnerable to trauma & resulting epidural hemorrhage. This is easy to remember—the forward facing or anterior part of an MMA fighter (his face) is very vulnerable to injury
12/Posterior meningeal artery is much smaller than the MMA. It arises from the ascending pharyngeal artery and supplies the dura to the posterior fossa. It also has anastomoses with the posterior division of the MMA.
13/You can remember its origin bc TONSILS are in the PHARYNX, so the ascending PHARYNGEAL supplies the dural around the cerebellar TONSILS (posterior fossa)
14/Anterior meningeal artery is also much smaller than the MMA. It arises from both the anterior and posterior ethmoidal arteries. It supplies the dura of the anterior cranial fossa. It has many anastomoses with the frontal branches of the MMA
15/You can remember its origin bc the anterior meningeal artery supplies the dura overlying the ethmoids, so it would make sense it arises from the ethmoidal arteries
16/Uniquely, as it ascends, the anterior meningeal artery actually runs in the wall of the anterior superior sagittal sinus. It is the only named artery to run in the wall of a sinus.
17/Now you know the anatomy of the major arterial supply to the dura & their territories. So the next time someone questions you about dural blood supply, you can attack it MMA style!
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1/The 90s called & wants its carotid imaging back!
It’s been 30 years--why are you still just quoting NASCET?
Do you feel vulnerable when it comes to identifying plaque vulnerability?
Here’s a thread to help you identify high risk plaques with carotid plaque imaging
2/Everyone knows the NASCET criteria:
If the patient is symptomatic & the greatest stenosis from the plaque is >70% of the diameter of normal distal lumen, patient will likely benefit from carotid endarterectomy.
But that doesn’t mean the remaining patients are just fine!
3/Yes, carotid plaques resulting in high grade stenosis are high risk.
But assuming that stenosis is the only mechanism by which a carotid plaque is high risk is like assuming that the only way to kill someone is by strangulation.
1/I always say you can tell a bad read on a spine MR if it doesn’t talk about lateral recesses.
What will I think when I see your read? Do you rate lateral recess stenosis?
Here’s a thread on lateral recess anatomy & a grading system for lateral recess stenosis
2/First anatomy.
Thecal sac is like a highway, carrying the nerve roots down the lumbar spine.
Lateral recess is part of the lateral lumbar canal, which is essentially the exit for spinal nerve roots to get off the thecal sac highway & head out into the rest of the body
3/Exits have 3 main parts.
First is the deceleration lane, where the car slows down as it starts the process of exiting.
Then there is the off ramp itself, and this leads into the service road which takes the car to the roads that it needs to get to its destination
3/At its most basic, you can think of the PPF as a room with 4 doors opening to each of these regions: one posteriorly to the skullbase, one medially to the nasal cavity, one laterally to the infratemporal fossa, and one anteriorly to the orbit