PERSISTENT STAPEDIAL ARTERY - DOES IT PREVENT SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

Because of the important function of the embryologic stapedial artery, it is taken for granted by many surgeons that the finding of such a p ersistent artery in postnatal humans during middle ear surgery should urge maximal caution in order not to damage the artery. Often, discont inuation of the surgery is recommended. Yet this attitude is based on theoretic considerations rather than on any clinical evidence of compl ications following injury to this vessel. The present paper describes the embryology in relation to this specific aspect and reviews the lit erature on the persistent stapedial artery, emphasizing the papers dea ling with injury to this vessel. In addition, we report 4 cases of per sistent stapedial artery from the files of almost 20,000 patients in w hom tympanotomy was performed. From all these data we conclude that in jury to this artery or even complete section probably does not cause m ajor, if any, postoperative sequelae, and that consequently, middle ea r surgery is not necessarily hindered by the presence of this vessel.