Summary
Carotid-anterior cerebral artery anastomosis constitutes an anomaly of the anterior part of the arterial circle of the brain. The anterior cerebral a. arises a few millimeters above the emergence of the internal carotid from the cavernous sinus, at the usual level of origin of the ophthalmic a. It travels medially, beneath the optic n., and then describes a curve with a superolateral concavity to arrive at the anterior part of the optic chiasma, where it anastomoses with the anterior communicating a. This asymptomatic variant of course is often associated with other cerebral vascular anomalies, especially arterial aneurysms. On the basis of 2 new cases discovered by chance, together with a review of the literature, various hypotheses capable of explaining the emoryologic origin of these anomalies are discussed.
Résumé
L'anastomose artérielle carotide-cérébrale antérieure, réalise une anomalie de la partie antérieure du cercle artériel de la base. L'a. cérébrale antérieure naît quelques millimètres au-dessus de l'émergence caverneuse de la carotide interne, au niveau de la naissance habituelle de l'a. ophtalmique. Elle se dirige médialement, sous le n. optique, puis décrit une courbe à concavité supéro-latérale pour se placer à la partie antérieure du chiasma optique où elle s'anastomose avec l'a. communicante antérieure. Cette variation de trajet, asymptomatique, est souvent associée à d'autres anomalies vasculaires encéphaliques, en particulier des anévrysmes artériels. Deux nouveaux cas, de découverte fortuite, nous permettent, associés à une revue de la littérature, d'envisager diverses hypothèses susceptibles d'expliquer l'origine embryologique de ces anomalies.
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Mercier, P., Velut, S., Fournier, D. et al. A rare embryologic variation: Carotid-anterior cerebral artery anastomosis or infraoptic course of the anterior cerebral artery. Surg Radiol Anat 11, 73–77 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102250
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102250