Abstract
Purpose
Variations of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) are rare, excluding aplasia or hypoplasia of the P1 segment. To the best of our knowledge, there are few reports of complete duplication of the PCA.
Methods
Herein, we report a case of complete duplication of the PCA diagnosed by 1.5 T magnetic resonance angiography.
Results
A 55-year-old woman visited our hospital for cerebrovascular disease screening. Magnetic resonance angiography revealed two right PCAs with similar diameters. One PCA originated as the P1 segment of the PCA branching from the basilar artery, and the other was the fetal-type posterior communicating artery (PCoA) branching from the internal carotid artery (ICA). Neither PCA supplied the right anterior choroidal artery (AChA) territory. Bilateral PCoAs branched from the same position as each ICA, respectively. The right AChA branched from the ICA distal to the PCoA branching position.
Conclusion
Careful imaging assessment is important for identifying complete duplication of the PCA. In addition to the direct findings of AChA identification, the indirect findings of the PCoA branching position and that the PCAs did not supply the AChA territory were also useful for diagnosis in this case.
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Abbreviations
- AChA:
-
Anterior choroidal artery
- ICA:
-
Internal carotid artery
- MRA:
-
Magnetic resonance angiography
- PCA:
-
Posterior cerebral artery
- PCoA:
-
Posterior communicating artery
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Yasuhiro Izumi and Yusuke Uemura (Radiological technologists, Nakamura Memorial Hospital) for their excellent work. We thank Jane Charbonneau, DVM, from Edanz (https://jp.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.
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The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
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HE: Protocol/project development, Data collection and management, Data analysis, Manuscript writing/editing. HO: Data management, Data analysis, Manuscript editing. HN: Data management, Manuscript editing.
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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nakamura Memorial Hospital (No. 2023011901).
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Endo, H., Ono, H. & Nakamura, H. Complete duplication of the posterior cerebral artery. Surg Radiol Anat 45, 359–361 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03095-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03095-x