ISSN: 1449-1907International Journal of Medical Sciences
Global reach, higher impact
Int J Med Sci 2016; 13(10):790-799. doi:10.7150/ijms.16489 This issue Cite
Review
Clinical importance of the middle meningeal artery: A review of the literature
Department of Neurosurgery, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
Abstract
The middle meningeal artery (MMA) is a very important artery in neurosurgery. Many diseases, including dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF), pseudoaneurysm, true aneurysm, traumatic arteriovenous fistula (AVF), moyamoya disease (MMD), recurrent chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH), migraine and meningioma, can involve the MMA. In these diseases, the lesions occur in either the MMA itself and treatment is necessary, or the MMA is used as the pathway to treat the lesions; therefore, the MMA is very important to the development and treatment of a variety of neurosurgical diseases. However, no systematic review describing the importance of MMA has been published. In this study, we used the PUBMED database to perform a review of the literature on the MMA to increase our understanding of its role in neurosurgery. After performing this review, we found that the MMA was commonly used to access DAVFs and meningiomas. Pseudoaneurysms and true aneurysms in the MMA can be effectively treated via endovascular or surgical removal. In MMD, the MMA plays a very important role in the development of collateral circulation and indirect revascularization. For recurrent CDSHs, after burr hole irrigation and drainage have failed, MMA embolization may be attempted. The MMA can also contribute to the occurrence and treatment of migraines. Because the ophthalmic artery can ectopically originate from the MMA, caution must be taken to avoid causing damage to the MMA during operations.
Keywords: Middle meningeal artery, Clinical importance, Review
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