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Review
. 2023 Jul 17;11(7):2009.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11072009.

The Superior Cerebellar Artery: Variability and Clinical Significance

Mikołaj Malicki  1 , Bartosz M Szmyd  2   3 , Ernest J Bobeff  2   4 , Filip F Karuga  4 , Michał M Piotrowski  2 , Dawid Kościołek  5 , Sora Wanibuchi  6 , Maciej Radek  1 , Dariusz J Jaskólski  2
Affiliations
Review

The Superior Cerebellar Artery: Variability and Clinical Significance

Mikołaj Malicki et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

The superior cerebellar artery (SCA) arises from the distal part of the basilar artery and passes by the oculomotor, trochlear, and trigeminal nerves. SCA is known to play a crucial role in the development of trigeminal neuralgia. However, due to its anatomical variability, it may also trigger other neurovascular compression (NVC), including hemifacial spasm, oculomotor nerve palsy, and ocular neuromyotonia. Additionally, it may be associated with ischemic syndromes and aneurysm development, highlighting its clinical significance. The most common anatomical variations of the SCA include duplication, a single vessel origin from the posterior cerebral artery (PCA), and a common trunk with PCA. Rarely observed variants include bifurcation and origin from the internal carotid artery. Certain anatomical variants such as early bifurcation and caudal course of duplicated SCA trunk may increase the risk of NVC. In this narrative review, we aimed to examine the impact of the anatomical variations of SCA on the NVCs based on papers published in Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases with a snowballing approach. Our review emphasizes the importance of a thorough understanding of the anatomical variability of SCA to optimize the management of patients with NVCs associated with this artery.

Keywords: anatomical variants; hemifacial spasm; neurovascular compression syndrome; oculomotor compression syndrome; superior cerebellar artery; trigeminal neuralgia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

B.M.S. is Guest Editor of the Special Issue “Pathogenesis and Therapy of Neurovascular Compression Syndromes” in Biomedicines.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of basic knowledge about superior cerebellar artery. Legend: CPA—cerebellopontine angle.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The possible SCA course: (A) typical course, (B) SCA duplication, (C) single vessel origin from the posterior cerebral artery, (D) common trunk with the posterior cerebral artery, (E) bifurcation, (F) origin from the internal carotid artery. Note, that (D) is a type of (C), in which the P1 gives off the SCA and eventually narrows (we decided to distinguish this type as it was observed in previous papers).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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