Posterior communicating artery
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At the time the article was created Jeremy Jones had no recorded disclosures.
View Jeremy Jones's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Frank Gaillard had the following disclosures:
- Biogen Australia Pty Ltd, Investigator-Initiated Research Grant for CAD software in multiple sclerosis: finished Oct 2021 (past)
These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.
View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures- PCom
- Posterior communicating arteries
- PComm
- PComs
- PcoA
- Posterior communicating artery (PCom)
The posterior communicating artery (PCom) makes up the posterior linkage in the circle of Willis.
On this page:
Gross anatomy
Course
The posterior communicating artery originates from the posterior aspect of the C7 (communicating) segment of the internal carotid artery and extends posteromedially to anastomose with the ipsilateral posterior cerebral artery and forms part of the circle of Willis.
Branches
The posterior communicating artery gives off many fine, scarcely visible, perforating branches. The largest perforating branch is called the premammillary (or anterior thalamoperforating) artery.
Vascular territory
Perforators from the posterior communicating artery supply:
posterior part of the optic chiasm and optic tract
posterior part of the hypothalamus and mammillary bodies
part of the thalamus
Variant anatomy
posterior communicating artery fenestration: extremely rare
posterior communicating artery hypoplasia: incidence ~35%
anterior choroidal artery origin from the posterior communicating artery
Quiz questions
References
- 1. Krayenbuehl H, Yasargil MG. Cerebral Angiography. Thieme. (1982) ISBN:0865770670. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 2. Dimmick SJ, Faulder KC. Normal variants of the cerebral circulation at multidetector CT angiography. Radiographics. 2009;29 (4): 1027-43. Radiographics (full text) - doi:10.1148/rg.294085730 - Pubmed citation
- 3. Jinkins JR. Atlas of Neuroradiologic Embryology, Anatomy, and Variants. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. (2000) ISBN:0781716527. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 4. Bogousslavsky J, Caplan LR. Stroke Syndromes. Cambridge University Press. (2001) ISBN:0521771420. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
Incoming Links
- Internal carotid artery
- Persistent hypoglossal artery
- Visual system
- Subclavian steal syndrome
- Hypothalamus
- Optic nerve
- Thalamus
- Ophthalmic artery
- Posterior communicating artery hypoplasia
- Branches of internal carotid artery (mnemonic)
- Persistent primitive trigeminal artery
- Posterior cerebral circulation
- Circle of Willis
- Posterior communicating artery duplication
- Pituitary gland
- Vertebral artery dissection
- Optic chiasm
- Acute basilar artery occlusion
- Anterior choroidal artery syndrome
- Congenital absence of the internal carotid artery
- Fetal posterior cerebral artery
- Aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage
- Posterior cerebral artery fenestration
- Saccular cerebral aneurysm
- Right-sided aortic arch with mirror image branching
- Trigeminal schwannoma
- A1 segment hypoplasia
- Aplasia of the internal carotid artery
- Vertebrobasilar angiography
- Cortical laminar necrosis with persistent fetal PCOM
- Bilateral ICA occlusion
- PICA termination of hypoplastic vertebral artery
- Aneurysm of posterior communicating artery
- Bilateral para-PCom aneurysms
- Subarachnoid haemorrhage
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