Anterior inferior cerebellar artery loop

Last revised by Mina Sameh Rizk on 4 Aug 2023

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Alameer A, Rizk M, Yap J, et al. Anterior inferior cerebellar artery loop. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 04 Dec 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-151338

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-151338

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/151338

rID:

151338

Article created:

25 Aug 2022, Aqeel Alameer

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Aqeel Alameer had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Aqeel Alameer's current disclosures

Last revised:

4 Aug 2023, Mina Sameh Rizk

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Mina Sameh Rizk had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Mina Sameh Rizk's current disclosures

Revisions:

6 times, by 5 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Central Nervous System

Sections:

Syndromes

Tags:

vascular loop

Synonyms:

Vascular loop
AICA loop

Anterior inferior cerebellar artery loop or AICA loop refers to an aberrant course of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) that enters the internal auditory meatus and loops over the 7^th and 8^th cranial nerves. This has been associated with audiological, vestibular, and facial symptoms due to vascular compression ¹.

Chavda described a simple method for classification of AICA loops ¹:

type I: lying only in the cerebellopontine angle (CPA), but not entering the internal auditory canal (IAC)
type II: entering, but not extending >50% of the length of the IAC
type III: entering and extending >50% of the length of the IAC

A prospective study of patients with tinnitus did not find statistical significance to attribute vascular compression from AICA as a causative factor for tinnitus ². Another study has also found no association between the Chavda classification and otoneurologic symptoms ³.