| Artery: Anterior inferior cerebellar artery | |
|---|---|
| The three major arteries of the cerebellum: the SCA, AICA, and PICA. (Anterior inferior cerebellar artery is AICA.) | |
| Diagram of the arterial circulation at the base of the brain (Anterior inferior cerebellar artery labeled at lower right). | |
| Latin | a. cerebelli inferior anterior |
| Gray's | subject #148 580 |
| Supplies | cerebellum |
| Source | basilar artery |
| Vein | inferior cerebellar veins |
The anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) arises from the basilar artery at the level of the junction between the medulla oblongata and the pons in the brainstem. It passes backward to be distributed to the anterior part of the undersurface of the cerebellum, anastomosing with the posterior inferior cerebellar branch of the vertebral artery. It supplies the anterior inferior quarter of the cerebellum.
It also gives off the labyrinthine artery in most cases; however, the labyrinthine artery can emerge as a branch of the basilar artery in others.
Occlusion of AICA results in lateral pontine syndrome, also known as AICA syndrome. The symptoms include sudden onset vertigo and vomiting, nystagmus, falling to the side of the lesion (due to damage to vestibular nuclei), ipsilateral loss of sensation of the face (due to damage to principal sensory trigeminal nucleus), ipsilateral facial paralysis (due to damage to the facial nucleus) and ipsilateral hearing loss and tinnitus (due to damage to the cochlear nuclei).
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.
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