Anatomy Atlases: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus II: Cardiovascular System: Arteries: Dorsospinal Artery

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Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus II: Cardiovascular System: Arteries

Dorsospinal Artery

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

A dorsospinal artery from the aorta may supply the anterior spinal artery but it has been rarely reported. The dorsospinal artery has been reported three times, 1) on the right side at the T9 level, 2) once on the left at the T10 level, and 3) on the right side at the T8 level.

An isolated dorsospinal artery has been found to supply the anterior spinal artery in only two cases. In one of the cases, the anterior spinal artery had a dual blood supply. A recent angiographic study by Lefournier, et al. of patients undergoing spinal cord vascularization at the thoracolumbar level demonstrated a dual blood supply for the anterior spinal artery in 48% of patients studied, the lowest of the two supplying only the conus medullaris. A single supply was noted in 45% of patients, and three anterior radiculospinal arteries supplied the cord in 7% of patients studied. In one case, both radiculospinal arteries supplied the conus medullaris.

The anatomic variant arises when the anastomosis of segmental arteries occurs some distance from the spine; the persistence of the initial portion of the primitive segmental trunk giving rise to a sole dorsospinal artery, directly from the aorta.

References

Bert S., Iyriboz A.T., Barret F. Zouaoui A.and J. Chiras (1995). Angiographic study of spinal cord vascularization at the thoraco-lumbar level. J Neuroradiol; 22: 12-19.

Chiras J.and Merland J.J. (1979) The dorsospinal artery, a little known anatomical variant: its importance in spinal angiography. J. Neuroradiol; 6:93-100.

Clavier E., Guimaraems L., Chiras J., Merland J.J. and J. Vasquez (1987). Isolated dorsospinal artery supplying anterior spinal artery. Neuroradiology 1987:29:213.

Lefournier, V., Bessou, P., Gailloud, P., Vasdev, A., Rüfenacht, D., and K. Boubagra. (1998) Direct emergence of the dorsospinal artery from the aorta supplying the anterior spinal artery: Report of two cases. AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol. 19:1961-1962.

Thron AK. (1988) Clinical applications. In: Vascular Anatomy of the Spinal Cord. Wien: Springer. : 65,70.

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