title: [Angiographic study of dangerous anastomasis of the external carotid artery].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the dangerous anastomasis between the external carotid artery and the intracranial arteries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Angiograms of the external carotid artery in 250 cases were analyzed, including 35 cases of moyamoya and 215 cases of head and neck lesions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 35 cases of moyamoya, 14 middle meningeal arteries (MMA) were found to participate in the blood supply of the brain. In addition, 11 superficial temporal arteries and 7 occipital arteries supplied the brain. All the cases with ligated external carotid artery (ECA) had the pharyngo-occipital anastomasis. Moreover, the ophthalmic arteries in three cases were found to originate from the MMA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The external carotid artery has a variety of anastomasis with the internal carotid artery (ICA) and the vertebral artery. Under such circumstances, special measures must be taken to circumvent inadvertent intracranial embolization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Peking University School of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Denggao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xuchen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Baomin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002342:Carotid Artery, External / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D011859:Radiography