Hypoplastic arteries of the cerebral arterial ring in the blind spot of computed tomography angiography

Trandafilović, Milena (author), Milić, Miroslav (author), Antovič, Aleksandra (author), Stojanović, Ivan (author), Pavlović, Voja (author), Todorović, Stefan (author), Drevenšek, Gorazd (author), Vasović, Ljiljana (author), Pavlović, Miljana (author), Drevenšek, Martina (author)

Background: Some variations of the cerebral arterial circle (CAC) are associated with an increased risk for the development of various pathological conditions. This paper aimed to determine the prevalence of hypoplastic arteries of CAC and to emphasize the limited possibility of their visualization by computed tomography angiography (CTA). Materials and methods: The research was performed on 400 adult cadavers by macro- and microdissection of the cerebral arteries. Each case was photographed and the diameter of the arteries was measured digitally, by analyzing photographs of the bases of the brain in the ImageJ program. Results: The largest prevalence of artery diameter <1mm (<0.6mm) in CAC had the posterior communicating artery (PCoA). PCoA on the left side was hypoplastic in 44.9% (11.4%) of cases, while the same artery on the right side was hypoplastic in 44.3% (6.6%) of cases. The posterior cerebral artery was hypoplastic on the left side in 3% (0.6%) and on the right side in 4.2% (0.6%) of cases. The anterior cerebral artery had a hypoplastic caliber only on the right side in 2.4% (0.6%) of the cases, while the internal carotid arteries did not have a diameter <1mm in any case. The anterior communicating artery showed the greatest variability in morphology. Studies on CTA describe the occurrence of aplasia in a statistically significantly higher percentage, and the occurrence of hypoplastic arteries in a statistically significantly lower percentage compared to studies on cadavers. Conclusions: Due to significant differences between cadaveric and radiological studies, it is necessary to analyze their results regarding arterial hypoplasia and aplasia separately. A diameter of less than 1 mm has been suggested as a criterion for arterial hypoplasia.

• Language: English
• Keywords: adult human cadaver, brain base, hypoplasia, computed tomography angiography, cerebral arterial circle
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: MF - Faculty of Medicine
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: str. 589-596
• Numbering: Vol. 83, no. 3, art. 96767
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-183263
• UDC: 616.1
• ISSN on article: 1644-3284
• DOI: 10.5603/fm.96767
• COBISS.SI-ID: 208557315
• Publication date in RUL: 10.06.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Folia Morphologica
• Shortened title: Folia Morphol.
• Publisher: Via Medica
• ISSN: 1644-3284
• COBISS.SI-ID: 154329347

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: truplo odraslega človeka, možganska baza, hipoplazija, računalniška tomografija angiografija, možganski arterijski krog