Arteries of the brain, brain stem and upper spinal cord (anterior spinal artery at bottom)
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|Latin
|colspan="2"|a. spinalis anterior
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|colspan="2"|[subject #148 ]
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|Supplies
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|colspan="2"|vertebral arteries
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|Vein
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|MeSH
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|Dorlands/Elsevier
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In human anatomy, the anterior spinal artery is the blood vessel that supplies the anterior portion of the spinal cord. It arises from branches of the vertebral arteries and is supplied by the anterior segmental medullary arteries, including the artery of Adamkiewicz, and courses along the anterior aspect of the spinal cord.
The Anterior Spinal Artery (ventral spinal artery) is a small branch, which arises near the termination of the vertebral, and, descending in front of the medulla oblongata, unites with its fellow of the opposite side at the level of the foramen magnum.
One of these vessels is usually larger than the other, but occasionally they are about equal in size.
They unite, by means of ascending and descending branches, to form a single anterior median artery, which extend as far as the lower part of the medulla spinalis, and is continued as a slender twig on the filum terminale.
This vessel is placed in the pia mater along the anterior median fissure; it supplies that membrane, and the substance of the medulla spinalis, and sends off branches at its lower part to be distributed to the cauda equina.
Disorders
Disruption of the anterior spinal cord leads to bilateral disruption of the corticospinal tract, causing motor deficits, and bilataeral disruption of the spinothalamic tract, causing sensory deficits in the form of pain/temperature sense loss.
See also
Anterior spinal artery syndrome
External links
Yoshioka K, Niinuma H, Ohira A, Nasu K, Kawakami T, Sasaki M, Kawazoe K. MR angiography and CT angiography of the artery of Adamkiewicz: noninvasive preoperative assessment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm. Radiographics. 2003 Sep-Oct;23(5):1215-25. PMID 12975511 [Full Text]
