Abstract
Objectives Endovascular embolization of the middle meningeal artery (MMA) is currently considered
one of the basic methods to treat acute bleeding and a posttraumatic aneurysm. The
present research correlates the morphological characteristics of the MMA with individual
skull shape.
Design A prospective cohort study.
Setting Hospital of University of Jordan (Amman, Jordan) from 2012 to 2013.
Participants A total of 50 patients without known vascular pathology in the carotid system underwent
routine magnetic resonance angiography examination of the head and neck.
Main Outcome Measures The length and outer diameter of extracranial, intraosseous, and intracranial segments
of the MMA were measured in patients with dolichocephalic, mesocephalic, and brachycephalic
types of skulls.
Results The brachycephalic patients have the most inauspicious anatomical precondition for
endovascular intervention of the MMA due to the narrowest lumen of the vessel, high
probability of a tortuous extracranial part, and pronounced inflexion at the transmission
of the intraosseous segment to the intracranial one.
Conclusions The morphological characteristics of the MMA have a close correlation with individual
skull shape.
Keywords
middle meningeal artery - endovascular embolization - posttraumatic aneurism