Ophthalmic artery origin from middle meningeal artery
Findings:
Lateral common carotid arteriogram shows no identifiable
ophthalmic artery in its expected origin from the internal carotid artery.
A vessel courses anteriorly from the middle meningeal artery which represents
the aberrant opthalmic artery. Note that the middle meningeal artery is
larger than expected, especially the anterior branch.
Discussion:
The ophthalmic artery is usually the first branch of
the supraclinoid ICA, and is recognized by its anterior course and choroidal
blush. Rarely, the ophthalmic artery may arise from the middle meningeal
artery, other ECA branches, or proximal cavernous ICA. These important
anatomic variants should be kept in mind when embolization in the ECA territory
is considered.