[Three-dimensional analysis of arteriography in human posterior circulation (preliminary report)]

In earlier articles it was suggested that there is a relation between vertigo and the posterior circulation. This study was designed to ascertain the course of the branches of the vertebral artery and the basilar artery, as well as the principal blood vessels of the vestibular nucleus by using radiographic three-dimensional observation. We studied 27 human brains (17 males, 10 females) fixed with the arterial embalming method at the Department of Anatomy of Kawasaki Medical School. The results were as follows: 1. Many variations in the course of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery and the posterior inferior cerebellar artery were observed, but the most frequent pattern, observed in 56% of our subjects, was the anterior inferior cerebellar arteries originating from the basilar artery and the posterior inferior cerebellar arteries from the vertebral artery. 2. Measurement of the inside diameter of both vertebral arteries showed the diameter of the left side to be thicker than that of the right side. 3. Perforating branches in the brain stem consisted of the pontine branches from the basilar artery and small branches from the anterior inferior cerebellar artery. Moreover, the transverse section showed a large number of them to originate from the ventral part of the brain stem.