Otic artery: a review of normal and pathological features

Three primitive arteries - the trigeminal, otic and hypoglossal take the names according to their close relation with the V, VIII and XII cranial nerves, while at the cervical level, the first segmental artery is named the primitive proatlantal intersegmental artery. When the human embryo is 4 mm long, these arteries serve as transitory anastomoses between primitive internal carotid arteries and bilateral longitudinal neural arterial plexus, which is the precursor of future basilar artery. Normal and/or abnormal morphofunctional aspects of the prenatal and postnatal forms of the otic artery are described according to the personal and literature data. Many (ab) normal arteries are also noted in differential diagnosis of the otic artery. Postnatally, individual incidence rates of the carotid-vertebrobasilar anastomoses have been found to be inversely related to their order of disappearance. The persistent trigeminal artery has a reported incidence from 0.06-0.6%, whereas the persistent primitive otic artery has been convincingly documented only in minor rates. Persistent carotid-vertebrobasilar anastomoses between the anterior and posterior cranial circulation are important to recognize during angiography for endovascular and surgical planning. Most frequently, the otic artery was an incidental finding.