Anterior inferior cerebellar artery

Template:BiopSy

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	Arteria cerebelli inferior anterior
Gray's	subject #148 580
Supplies	Cerebellum
From	Basilar artery
To	Labyrinthine artery
Vein	Inferior cerebellar veins
MeSH	[1]
Dorlands/Elsevier	{{{DorlandsPre}}}/{{{DorlandsSuf}}}

The anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) is an artery in the brain that supplies part of the cerebellum.

It 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.

Clinical significance

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).

References

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

External links

• SUNY Labs 28:09-0224
• Dictionary at eMedicine anterior+inferior+cerebellar+artery
• http://neuroangio.org/anatomy-and-variants/aica/
• Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator, at Elsevier 13048.000-1

File:Arteries beneath brain Gray closer.jpg

The arteries of the base of the brain. Anterior inferior cerebellar labeled near bottom. The temporal pole of the cerebrum and a portion of the cerebellar hemisphere have been removed on the right side. Inferior aspect (viewed from below).