Posterior spinal artery
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| Artery: Posterior spinal artery | |
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| The three major arteries of the cerebellum: the SCA, AICA, and PICA. (Posterior spinal artery is not labeled, but region is visible.) | |
| Illustration of region. | |
| Latin | arteria spinalis posterior |
| Gray's | subject #148 579 |
| Source | vertebral or anterior inferior cerebellar |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | a_61/12156012 |
The posterior spinal artery (dorsal spinal artery) arises from the vertebral artery, beside the medulla oblongata. It passes backward to descend the medulla passing in front of the posterior roots of the spinal nerves. Along its course it is reinforced by a succession of small branches, which enter the vertebral canal through the intervertebral foramina, forming a variable plexus, of generally two major trunks down to the lower part of the medulla spinalis, and to the cauda equina.
Branches from the posterior spinal arteries form a free anastomosis around the posterior roots of the spinal nerves, and communicate, by means of very tortuous transverse branches, with the vessels of the opposite side.
Close to its origin each gives off an ascending branch, which ends at the side of the fourth ventricle.
[edit] External links
- S. Lamin and J. J. Bhattacharya (2003). "Vascular Anatomy of the Spinal Cord and Cord Ischaemia". Practical Neurolog. PDF
- Dictionary at eMedicine Posterior+spinal+artery
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.
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