Variations of the ophthalmic and middle meningeal arteries: relation to the embryonic stapedial artery.

Recognition of the anatomic variations of the ophthalmic and middle meningeal arteries may be pertinent in tailoring the angiographic study to resolve a given clinical problem. An understanding of these anomalies is based on knowledge of the normal embryology. Unfortunately some early aspects of vascular development remain obscure. Fragmentary observations gleaned from the embryologic literature were correlated with selective and/or subselective angiography performed in 42 patients with such anomalies. This analysis has provided the basis for a tenable scheme for development of the ophthalmic and middle meningeal arteries as they relate to the embryonic stapedial artery. A classification for anomalies of these arteries is proposed based on deviation from this normal embryologic mechanism.