Stylomastoid artery

Stylomastoid artery

The arteries of the face and scalp.
Details
Latin arteria stylomastoidea
Source
 posterior auricular artery
Supplies tympanic cavity, tympanic antrum, mastoid cells, semicircular canals
Identifiers
Gray's p.557
Dorlands
/Elsevier		 a_61/12156035
TA A12.2.05.038
FMA 49628
Anatomical terminology

The stylomastoid artery enters the stylomastoid foramen and supplies the tympanic cavity, the tympanic antrum and mastoid cells, and the semicircular canals. It is a branch of the posterior auricular artery, and thus part of the external carotid arterial system.

In the young subject a branch from this vessel forms, with the anterior tympanic artery from the internal maxillary, a vascular circle, which surrounds the tympanic membrane, and from which delicate vessels ramify on that membrane.

It anastomoses with the superficial petrosal branch of the middle meningeal artery by a twig which enters the hiatus canalis facialis.

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links