Persistent Trigeminal Artery: A Case Report

Abstract

Persistence of fetal vessel in adulthood, joining the carotid and vertebrobasilar systems in fetal period apart from the posterior communicating artery, is rare. 1 This communication is called carotid-vertebrobasilar anastomosis, which includes trigeminal, otic, hypoglossal, and proatlantal arteries. A case of a persistent trigeminal artery (PTA) with carotid–vertebrobasilar junction anomaly is found in a young male is reported. Here, PTA arises from cavernous portion of the right inferior cerebellar artery and traveled posteriorly to join basilar artery and terminates and corresponds to TA type II of Saltzman’s classification. It is also associated with basilar invagination and cervical cord myelomalacia.