[Persistence of the stapedial artery: three cases]

The authors report three cases of persistence of the stapedial artery, discovered by computed tomography examination. For two cases, a clinical symptomatology was present but probably related to the association with an aberrant carotid artery in the middle ear; the only case of isolated persistence of the stapedial artery was asymptomatic. Direct visualisation of the abnormal artery was possible on the C. T. scans in two cases and a collateral sign as a larger tympanic part of the facial canal was found in the third case inducing a MRI. The incidence of this anomaly is 0.48 per cent from 1,045 dissections of temporal bones but it is generally clinically unrecognized. The hyoïdo-stapedial artery appears and develops at the 7-18 mm embryonic stages. Partial or complete persistence have been described associated with no regression or no division of the ventral pharyngeal artery.