THE VASCULAR ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN TEMPORALIS MUSCLE - IMPLICATIONS FOR SURGICAL SPLITTING TECHNIQUES

Despite the wide application of the temporalis muscle flap and its mod ifications, understanding of the vascular pattern and territories with in the muscles remains poor. This study aimed to evaluate the vascular architecture in the human temporalis muscle for surgical application. The material comprised 15 fresh cadavers (30 muscle specimens), which were divided into three groups for vascular infusion by either Indian ink solution, lead oxide solution, or methylmethacrylate resin. The v ascular network in the temporalis muscle was analyzed by stereomicrosc opy, radiography, and scanning electron microscopy. The human temporal is muscle was found to have vascular supply from three primary arterie s: the anterior deep temporal artery (ADTA), the posterior deep tempor al artery (PDTA), adn the middle temporal artery (MTA). Each primary a rtery branched into the secondary arterioles adn then the terminal art erioles. The venous network accompanied the arteries, the double veins pairing one artery was a common finding. The capillaries formed a den se, interlacing network with orientation along the muscle fibres. Arte riovenous anastomosis was absent. In the coronal plane, the vessels we re located mainly on the lateral and medial aspects of the muscle with a significantly lower vascular density in the midline. Morphometric a nalysis of the arterial network showed that the PDTA was larger in siz e at primary and secondary branching levels than the ADTA and the MTA, whereas no differences were present at the terminal arteriolar levels . The distribution of the arterial territories was as follows: the ADT A occupied 21% anteriorly, the PDTA occupied 41% in the middle region, the MTA occupied 38% in the posterior region. This improved understan ding of the vascular architecture within the temporalis muscle complem ents the anatomic basis of the flap-splitting technique and increases the safety of its application.