Fetal Origin of Posterior Cerebral Artery: Morphological Case Study

The circle of willis and its branches are subjected to numerous variations. The variations not only differ from person to person but also on the side of the individuals. The brain receives its blood supply from four arterial trunks. Two internal carotid arteries and two vertebral arteries. The circle of Willis is a large arterial anastomosis which unites the internal carotid artery and vertebral artery. It is named after Thomas Willis, an English physician. Both the arteries together with their branches lie within the subarachnoid space called interpeduncular cistern at the base of the brain. It is a ring like network of blood vessels which is essential for perfusion of the brain. The two internal carotid arteries contribute 80% of the blood supply to the brain and the two vertebral arteries contribute 20% of the blood supply. In this study, 50 cadaveric human brain specimen is dissected to study the anomalous origin of Posterior cerebral artery from Internal Cerebral artery and to report the incidence with the previous studies