Person:

Thomas, Ajith

Various anomalies for the origin of the middle meningeal artery (MMA) have been described in the literature. However, origin of the MMA from the basilar trunk is an extremely rare variant. We report on a 54-year-old female who presented with frequent headaches; magnetic resonance imaging showed a right parietal meningioma. The abnormal origin of the middle meningeal artery from the basilar artery was diagnosed by angiography performed for preoperative embolization of the tumor. We report on the case with a review of the embryologic basis, possible explanations for this aberrant origin, and its clinical implications.

Traumatic pseudoaneurysms of the vertebral artery (VA) are uncommon vascular lesions and definitive management is often challenging. Between 0% and 8% of craniocervical fusions are complicated by VA injury. In these cases, preserving the vertebral artery while treating the pseudoaneurysm is the goal of any treatment option. We describe the second known case of a patient with and iatrogenic extracranial vertebral artery pseudoaneurysm treated effectively using the Pipeline Embolization Device (PED) (Ev3 Neurovascular, Irvine, CA). Although there have been only two cases reported, the use of flow-diverting stents appears to be efficacious for the treatment of non-actively bleeding traumatic pseudoaneurysms.

A detailed description of the anatomy of the central occipital emissary vein, its embryology, anatomy, and abnormal variations is not available in the literature. This is the first known case report. A 48-year-old female underwent cerebral angiography to rule out dural arterio-venous fistula. Her angiography revealed an abnormally large central occipital emissary vein originating from the torcula, penetrating the cranium and draining into the suboccipital venous plexus. We provide discussion of the case with a review of the related literature. This case and its attached radiological images introduce a new type of entity to the existing data about the cranial emissary veins.