Head and Neck Imaging

Stapedial artery, persistent

very rare vascular anomaly, consisting of a persistent stapedial artery (an embryonic artery), arising from the infracochlear internal carotid artery, running along the medial wall of the middle ear between the stapedial crura, entering the anterior tympanic segment of the facial nerve canal and finally reaching the middle cranial fossa, replacing the middle meningeal artery. The CT findings in such cases are absence of the foramen spinosum (as there is no middle meningeal artery) and widening of the anterior tympanic segment of the facial nerve canal.

RH