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Persistent dorsal ophthalmic artery and ophthalmic artery arising from the middle meningeal artery diagnosed by MR angiography at 3 T

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Abstract

Introduction

A persistent dorsal ophthalmic artery (OA) is a rare variation that originates from the cavernous segment of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and enters the orbit via the superior orbital fissure (SOF). Occasionally, the OA also arises from the middle meningeal artery (MMA) and enters the orbit via the SOF. These two major variations of the OA have not been well described by magnetic resonance (MR) angiography. We evaluated their prevalence on MR angiography at 3 T.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed our database of MR angiographic images obtained using a 3 T imager. Of images of 846 patients, we evaluated those of 826 patients (1,652 OAs) with special attention to OA origin and its course into the orbit. We excluded images of the 20 because quality was insufficient to assess.

Results

We found 7 (0.42 %) persistent dorsal OAs among 1,652 OAs (right/left, 6/1; male/female, 3/4). Twenty-four (1.45 %) OAs arose from the MMA (right/left/bilateral, 11/5/4; male/female, 10/10), three of which also demonstrated a small normally branching OA. In one patient, we observed both right persistent dorsal OA and left OA arising from the MMA.

Conclusions

Per OA, the prevalence of persistent dorsal OA was 0.42 % and of OA arising from the MMA, 1.45 %, with a tendency toward right-side predominance. OA arising from the MMA can be seen bilaterally; preprocedural knowledge of this variation is important because of the danger associated with endovascular procedures of the external carotid system when the OA arises from the MMA.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Yasuo Sakurai, RT and Taiki Senoo, RT for their contribution to MR angiography and Shoichiro Ishihara, M.D., for his contribution to cerebral angiography. We also thank Rosalyn Uhrig, M.A., for editorial assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Saitama Medical University International Medical Center, 1397-1 Yamane, Hidaka, Saitama, 350-1298, Japan

    Akira Uchino, Naoko Saito, Masahiro Takahashi, Eito Kozawa, Waka Mizukoshi, Reiko Nakajima & Nanami Okano

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  1. Akira Uchino
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  2. Naoko Saito
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  3. Masahiro Takahashi
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Correspondence to Akira Uchino.

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Uchino, A., Saito, N., Takahashi, M. et al. Persistent dorsal ophthalmic artery and ophthalmic artery arising from the middle meningeal artery diagnosed by MR angiography at 3 T. Surg Radiol Anat 35, 775–782 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-013-1085-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-013-1085-5

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