The human anterior tympanic artery - A nutrient artery of the middle ear with highly variable origin

The variability of the origin of the anterior tympanic artery was investiga ted in 104 individuals of both sexes. A surprising laterality was found: th us, while the left anterior tympanic artery originated as a singular vessel from either the maxillary or the superficial temporal artery with almost e qual frequencies (44.7 and 45.9%, respectively), the right anterior tympani c artery predominantly branched off from the maxillary artery (77.8% of cas es). Besides the origin from either the maxillary artery or the superficial temporal artery, also anterior tympanic arteries branching off from the ex ternal carotid artery were found to occur (4% on the left and 1% on the rig ht side). Although in the majority of individuals, a singular anterior tymp anic artery occurred within the infratemporal fossa, duplications of the an terior tympanic artery were found to be present: in one case on the right a nd in 8 cases on their left side. In 1 female individual, a triplet of left anterior tympan ic arteries was found to supply the tympanic cavity. Also in these cases, the anterior tympanic artery arose from either the external carotid, the superficial temporal or the maxillary artery. In singular cas es, even several other branches of the maxillary artery, viz. the deep auri cular, middle, and accessory meningeal, as well as the posterior deep tempo ral, inferior alveolar and masseteric arteries were found to form common tr unks with the anterior tympanic artery. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.