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SIZE, COURSE, DISTRIBUTION AND ANOMALIES OF THE MIDDLE CEREBRAL ARTERY IN ADULT NIGERIANS
Abstract
Objective: To determine the size, course, distribution and anomalies of the middle cerebral
artery in adult Nigerians.
Design: A retrospective study.
Setting: Department of pathology, University College Hospital, Ibadan between April and
September 1999.
Subjects: One hundred middle cerebral arteries from patients’ asymptomatic for central
nervous system lesions, obtained at autopsy from fifty adult Nigerians were examined.
Results: The MCA arose as the wider of the two terminal branches of the internal carotid
artery (ICA). Its mean diameter was 3.49 mm (CI = 3.39 - 3.59mm), while the mean predivision
length was 15.43 mm (CI = 14.59 - 16.27mm). In 92% of specimens, the first branches
were perforators. The early branches were destined solely to the temporal lobe pole in most
hemispheres (85%). In most specimens, (81%) the main trunk bifurcated while in 13% it
trifurcated. One accessory MCA, and the early branches were given off before the perforators
in two middle cerebral arteries, making an incidence of anomalies of 3%. There was no
aneurysm.
Conclusion: These results are similar to what has been described in the literature for
Caucasians. It buttresses the assertion that anatomical anomalies of the MCA are rare. The
rarity at autopsy of aneurysms of the MCA in asymptomatic Nigerian Africans is not
explained by the gross morphology of this vessel.
artery in adult Nigerians.
Design: A retrospective study.
Setting: Department of pathology, University College Hospital, Ibadan between April and
September 1999.
Subjects: One hundred middle cerebral arteries from patients’ asymptomatic for central
nervous system lesions, obtained at autopsy from fifty adult Nigerians were examined.
Results: The MCA arose as the wider of the two terminal branches of the internal carotid
artery (ICA). Its mean diameter was 3.49 mm (CI = 3.39 - 3.59mm), while the mean predivision
length was 15.43 mm (CI = 14.59 - 16.27mm). In 92% of specimens, the first branches
were perforators. The early branches were destined solely to the temporal lobe pole in most
hemispheres (85%). In most specimens, (81%) the main trunk bifurcated while in 13% it
trifurcated. One accessory MCA, and the early branches were given off before the perforators
in two middle cerebral arteries, making an incidence of anomalies of 3%. There was no
aneurysm.
Conclusion: These results are similar to what has been described in the literature for
Caucasians. It buttresses the assertion that anatomical anomalies of the MCA are rare. The
rarity at autopsy of aneurysms of the MCA in asymptomatic Nigerian Africans is not
explained by the gross morphology of this vessel.
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