Clinical importance of the superficial temporal artery in neurovascular diseases: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review.

The superficial temporal artery (STA) plays a very important role in neurovascular diseases and procedures. However, until now, no comprehensive review of the role of STA in neurovascular diseases from a neurosurgical perspective has ever been published. To review research on the clinical importance of STA in neurovascular diseases, a literature search was performed using the PubMed database. Articles were screened for suitability and data relevance. This paper was organized following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. According to the literature, STA is one of the terminal branches of the external carotid artery and can give off scalp, muscle, and transosseous branches. STA-middle cerebral artery (MCA) bypass is very useful for intracranial ischemic diseases, including moyamoya disease, chronic ICA and MCA insufficiency, and even acute ischemic stroke. For intracranial complex aneurysms, STA bypass remains a major option that can serve as flow replacement bypass during aneurysmal trapping or insurance bypass during temporary parent artery occlusion. Occasionally, the STA can also be involved in dural AVFs (DAVFs) via to its transosseous branches. In addition, the STA can be used as an intraoperative angiography path and the path to provide endovascular treatments. Therefore, STA is a very important artery in neurovascular diseases.