LAUSR

BACKGROUND The blood supply to the skull base is important to surgeons and those performing interventional and diagnostic procedures in this region. However, one vessel with a vast distribution in this area, the dorsal meningeal artery (DMA), has had few anatomical studies performed to investigate not only its normal anatomy but also its variations. Therefore, the current study aimed to analyze the dorsal meningeal artery via cadaveric dissection. METHODS In ten adults, latex injected, cadaveric heads (twenty sides), the dorsal meningeal artery was dissected using a surgical microscope. This artery and its branches were documented and measured. RESULTS A DMA was identified on all sides. In the majority (85%), it was a branch of the meningohypophysial trunk or common stem with either the inferior hypophysial or tentorial arteries and always had branches that traversed the basilar venous plexus. Multiple branches of the DMA were identified and categorized as bony, dural, neural, and vascular. CONCLUSIONS Surgeons operating at the skull base or clinicians interpreting imaging of this area should have a good working knowledge of the DMA and its typical and variant anatomy.