Morphometry of organization of middle meningeal artery through the analysis of bony canal in human's skull: A clinico-anatomical and embryological insight

BACKGROUND: Middle meningeal artery (MMA) is the largest branch of the maxillary artery supplying meninges of the cranial cavity. The complexity of MMA development gives many opportunities for anatomical variation. Besides, the variant MMA can be easily injured when dealing with fractures of the base of the skull, epidural hematomas, and bypass procedures. Although various aberrant origins of the MMA have been documented in the literature, there is a lack of detailed morphometric aspects of this important arterial segment. Thus, in this study, we investigated the anatomical organization of the MMA through the bony canal measurements from human skulls to improve surgical results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-five adult dry skulls were investigated. Angle of the main trunk, length of the main trunk, angle between the frontal and parietal branches, length of the frontal branch, length of the parietal branch, and length of the bony tunnel formed by the frontal branch were measured bilaterally. RESULTS: In the present study, we found significant differences between the parameters such as length of frontal (P = 0.034) and parietal (P = 0.023) branches and length of bony tunnel (P = 0.045) of right and left sides, but there was no significant difference found in the rest of the parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Morphometry of the bony canal of MMA shall be important for safely expose and preserve the artery during craniotomy with careful drilling and shall be useful for those who have interest in this anatomical site.