Turkish Neurosurgery 2015 , Vol 25 , Num 5
Fusiform Enlargement of the Superficial Temporal Artery in the Cases with Intracranial Aneurysm
Enis KURUOGLU, Cengiz COKLUK, Abdullah Hilmi MARANGOZ, Kerameddin AYDIN
Ondokuzmayıs University, School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Samsun, Turkey DOI : 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.11298-14.0 AIM: The superficial temporal artery is one of the main terminal branches of the external carotid artery. This artery ascends through the lateralposterior margin of the zygomatic arch to reach the temporal region of the scalp. The superficial temporal artery divides its frontal and parietal branches around the zygomatic arch.

Materıal and METHODS: The raw data of the Three-dimensional Computerized Tomography Angiography (3D-CTA) were transferred to computer and recorded in a software program. This software program created the three-dimensional images of the superficial temporal artery using these transferred raw data with volume rendering technique.

RESULTS: Fifteen cases (5 female and 10 male, mean age 54.26±12.35 years) with intracranial aneurysm were evaluated in terms of the type, location and dimensions of the fusiform enlargements. Fusiform enlargement was bilateral in eleven of the cases. Remaining four cases have unilateral fusiform enlargement of the superficial temporal artery.

CONCLUSION: Fusiform enlargement of the superficial temporal artery may be seen in the cases with intracranial aneurysms. 3D-CTA should be carefully evaluated in the demonstration of extracranial-intracranial vascular pathologies. Keywords : Fusiform enlargement, Intracranial aneurysm, Superficial temporal artery

Corresponding author : Enis Kuruoglu, drenis@hotmail.com