title: Fenestrations and Various Duplications of the Posterior Communicating Artery in the Prenatal and Postnatal Periods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The 2 paired arteries-the posterior communicating arteries (PCoAs) and the precommunicating parts of the posterior cerebral arteries-form the so-called posterior segment of the cerebral arterial circle on the base of the brain. A number of (ab)normal morphologic features were described in the literature (e.g., unusual kinking, or extreme elongations, hypoplasia, duplications, fenestrations, the infundibular widening, or aplasia of the PCoA in the prenatal and/or postnatal periods). The aim of this study was to analyze an incidence of various fenestrations and duplications of the PCoA, and describe their general features and their association with other vascular abnormalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research was performed on the brains of 200 human fetuses and 377 adult cadavers of both genders and different ages using microdissection and macrodissection methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 0.34% cases with PCoA fenestrations and 3.12% cases with various PCoA duplications. Their morphologic features were described and compared with the similar PCoA abnormalities recorded in the scientific literature. There was no association between the PCoA and either duplication or aneurysm in adult cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After thorough examination, the fenestrations and duplications of the PCoA are distinguished as 2 special forms of vascular abnormalities, and the PCoA duplications are characterized as partial and total. Furthermore, whereas the low incidence of a fenestration of the PCoA suggests it to be a sufficiently rare phenomenon, the duplications of the PCoA trunk are fairly frequent, especially concerning its terminal segment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trandafilović
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Ljiljana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vasović
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia. Electronic address: sloti@ptt.rs.
authors.forename: Slobodan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vlajković
authors.affiliation: Health Center of Niš, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Đorđević
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Borisav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stojanović
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mladenović
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002102:Cadaver; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002941:Circle of Willis / Q000002:abnormalities*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000002:abnormalities; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020769:Posterior Cerebral Artery / Q000002:abnormalities*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Abnormalities; Cerebral arterial circle; Human brain base; Posterior communicating artery