Basilar artery
Dr Henry Knipe and Dr Jeremy Jones et al.
The basilar artery is part of the posterior cerebral circulation. It artery arises from the confluence of the left and right vertebral arteries at the base of the pons as they rise towards the base of the brain.
It runs cranially in the central grove of the pons towards the midbrain within the pontine cistern. It travels within this groove from the lower pontine border adjacent to the exit of the abducens nerve to the upper pontine border and the appearance of the occulomotor nerve.
Before terminating at the upper pontine border where it divides into the two posterior cerebral arteries, it provides several paired branches:
- anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA)
- labyrinthine artery (variable origin; more commonly a branch of AICA)
- pontine arteries
- superior cerebellar artery (SCA)
Summary
- origin : vertebral artery confluence
- course : ventral to pons in the pontine cistern
- branches : numerous to cerebellum and pons
- termination : division into the two posterior cerebral arteries
- variants : basilar artery fenestration
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