Anatomical study of petrous and cavernous parts of internal carotid artery

Abstract

The petrous and cavernous parts of internal carotid artery (ICA) are obscure and are not readily accessible to observation/imaging. These parts have broad biological and medical interest because of their peculiar shape. Given the their clinical importance and the scarce data available based mostly on imaging, the present study was aimed at studying these parts of ICA by dissection. The study was carried out on 56 ICAs obtained from embalmed adult cadavers and 10 ICAs from five fetuses. The foetal ICAs were studied in situ. The morphometric analysis of the adult ICA was done after its removal from cranial cavity to gain an insight into the geometry of the vessel, i.e., length, various bends, and diameters at various locations. ICAs in fetuses ran a relatively straighter course taking gentle curves at three positions (two intrapetrous, one cavernous). Adult ICAs were more tortuous and exhibited greater variability in length and angulations. The length of respective portions of the ICA correlate negatively with the measure of angles. The angles in the petrous and cavernous parts were positively correlated to each other. The carotid siphon was positively, highly significantly correlated to other angles. Longer vessels are more tortuous with acute bends. An acute carotid siphon is an indication of more tortuous ICA. The findings of the present study have created a reference data of unsuspected adult population and has potential implications for studying cause/effect relationship of vessel geometry and hemodynamic factors.

Anatomic Characteristics of Intrapetrous Carotid Artery: A 3-Dimensional Segmentation Study on Head Computed Tomography Scan

“…The present data partially confirm the existing literature. In fact, length and diameter of the horizontal portion are similar to those reported on cadavers and CT-scans 6,10,16,19,20 ; on the other hand, angles of the posterior and anterior genu are higher than the intervals reported by Vijaywargiya et al 22 . However, the previous study was performed on embalmed cadavers, and the encountered discordances may be due to the elastic deformation of ICA during the measurement procedures.…”

“…Even less data are available for what concerns the angles of posterior and anterior genu: a recent study first found that both the angles were positively correlated to each other, and negatively correlated with the length of the horizontal portion of IPCA. On average, the posterior and anterior genu ranged between 31° and 110°, and between 68° and 124°, respectively 22 .…”

“…Very few studies have analysed size and shape of intrapetrous carotid artery so far: angles or knees of ICA are widely described by literature 1,2 , but very few articles have provided a quantification of different artery portions in the intracranial path 11 , mainly through anatomic dissections 4,10 . Other authors assessed the same parameters on CT-scans, usually providing general metrical indications potentially useful in surgery 12,13 .…”

Rare Clinical Onset of Nontraumatic Intracavernous Aneurysm of the Internal Carotid Artery: A Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge

“…The cavernous part of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is in the form of a siphon that is twisted and torqued in three dimensions. 1 It is the most medial structure within the cavernous sinus, so it leans directly against the lateral surface of the body of the sphenoid bone, where bone can be absent in 4% of cases or a very thin space (< 1 mm) can be seen in 66%. 2 Prevalence of intracranial saccular aneurysms varies in the literature, from 0.4% to 6%, with a preponderance in female patients (92%).…”

Incidence of Carotico-clinoid Foramen and Interclinoid Osseous Bridge in Dry Human Skulls in Sudan_ Neurosurgical Interest

“…After traversing through cavernous sinus it curves up medial to anterior clinoid process. Finally, the artery emerges through dural roof of cavernous sinus [5] .…”