Posterior cerebral artery

Arteria posterior cerebri

  • Latin synonym: Arteria cerebri posterior; Arteria cerebralis posterior

Definition

The posterior cerebral artery arises near the intersection of the posterior communicating artery and the basilar artery and connects with the ipsilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) and internal carotid artery via the posterior communicating artery (PCommA).

The PCA is divided into four segments:

Note that it seems that P3 and P4 segment seems to have different meanings between Terminologia Anatomica and neurosurgical/neuroradiologic textbooks :

In the Terminologia anatomica:

In neurosurgical/neuroradiologic textbooks:

  • P3 segment; quadrigeminal segment: extends in a medial and posterior direction ~ 40mm in length. The PCA often divides into its two terminal branches, the calcarine and parieto-occipital arteries between

  • P4 segment; cortical segment, that includes two main terminal branches of the PCA, the calcarine artery and parieto-occipital artery.

Text by Antoine Micheau, MD - Copyright IMAIOS

Comparative anatomy in animals

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