Three-dimensional morphometry of the A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery with neurosurgical relevance.
BACKGROUND
Despite research in the anatomical sciences for the last 200 years, some structures of the human body remain controversial or incompletely described. One of these structures is the A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA).


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the A1 segment of the ACA using novel stereoscopic methods because the 3-dimensional morphometry of the ACA is important to neurosurgeons.


METHODS
A digital-image computer-based system was used to analyze the A1 segment of 230 ACAs derived from computed tomography. Data analysis included the inner diameter, length, and volume and calculation of A1 symmetry, hypoplasia, and deviation, and tortuosity indexes.


RESULTS
Hypoplasia of the A1 segment was found in 0.87% and only on the right sides, whereas asymmetry was found in 42.6% and was more common in female patients. Right A1 segments tended to be longer in male patients, and this reached significance. Also of significance was the correlation of an increased length with age. Right A1 segments tended to have greater volumes, and this was significant in a comparison of male and female patients. Tortuosity indexes tended to be greater for left sides, but deviation indexes tended to be greater on the right sides.


CONCLUSIONS
Morphometric data of the A1 segment of the ACA as analyzed in the present study may be of utility to the neurosurgeon. Right A1 segments tend to be more tortuous, more deviated, longer, and narrower than left A1 segments.
Department of Anatomy, Collegium Anatomicum, Medical Faculty, University of Varmia and Masuria, Olsztyn, Poland. anna.zurada@gmail.com
Anna
A
Zurada
Jerzy
J
St Gielecki
R Shane
RS
Tubbs
Marios
M
Loukas
Agnieszka
A
Zurada-Zielińska
Wojciech
W
Maksymowicz
Dariusz
D
Nowak
Aaron A
AA
Cohen-Gadol
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D020771:Anterior Cerebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002539:Cerebral Arterial Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult