title: Aberrant internal carotid artery presenting as a retrotympanic vascular mass.
abstract: We report a case of a young woman with an aberrant right internal carotid artery (ICA) presenting as a retrotympanic reddish mass. This variant of the ICA represents the collateral pathway that is formed as a result of an embryological agenesis of the cervical segment of the ICA. The embryonic inferior tympanic artery is recruited to bypass the absent carotid segment. This hypertrophied vessel may be seen otoscopically and wrongfully considered to be a vascular middle ear tumor. Informing the otorhinolaryngologist of this important vascular variant not only obviates biopsy but also helps in careful preoperative planning of eventual middle ear procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, GZA Hospital Sint-Augustinus, Wilrijk, Belgium ; Department of Radiology, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) and University of Antwerp (UA), Belgium.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nicolay
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, GZA Hospital Sint-Augustinus, Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: De Foer
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, GZA Hospital Sint-Augustinus, Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bernaerts
authors.affiliation: European Institute for ORL, GZA Hospital Sint-Augustinus, Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joost
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Dinther
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) and University of Antwerp (UA), Belgium.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Parizel
keywords: Head/Neck; computed tomography (CT); ear; magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) arteries; vascular