Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Posterior cerebral artery

The terminal branches of the basilar artery. Each curves round the midbrain to supply the inferolateral temporal lobe and the visual cortex of the occipital lobe.

Key points

• From the basilar bifurcation; round the midbrain.
• Visual (occipital) cortex + inferior temporal lobe.
• Circle of Willis: ACA, ACom, ICA, PCom, PCA.
• Berry aneurysm → subarachnoid haemorrhage.
• Vessels: mesodermal, from angioblastic tissue.
• Cerebral atherosclerosis → stroke.
• Artery: intima / media (smooth muscle) / adventitia.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1560, 1641–1642, 1643–1644
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF p. 236
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 197–199, 199

More from the head and neck

• Posterior cricoarytenoid
• Precentral gyrus
• Retina
• Salpingopharyngeus
• Scalenus anterior
• Scalenus medius and posterior
• Sclera
• Skull
• Sphenoid bone
• Sternocleidomastoid
• Sternohyoid
• Sternothyroid

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