Anterior temporal branch
Ramus temporalis anterior
A cortical artery to the front part of the temporal lobe, running down across its lateral surface from the lateral sulcus.
At a glance
- English
- Anterior temporal branch
- Latin (TA2)
- Ramus temporalis anterior
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Head
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the anterior temporal branch
The anterior temporal branch is one of the cortical branches that supply the temporal lobe. In the middle cerebral artery system, after the main trunk has run laterally in the lateral sulcus and turned onto the insula, branches leave the sulcus in a row from front to back to spread over the outer surface of the hemisphere. The temporal group passes downwards, and the anterior temporal branch is the most forward of them.
It emerges from the front part of the lateral sulcus and crosses the lateral surface of the temporal lobe near its pole. Its branches run down over the superior, middle and inferior temporal gyri in the anterior part of the lobe and may reach the temporal pole. Further back the same territory is continued by the middle and posterior temporal branches. On the inferior and medial surface of the lobe its territory meets that of the posterior cerebral artery, whose anterior temporal branches supply the underside of the lobe.
The cortex it supplies includes the front of the superior and middle temporal gyri and the temporal pole. These regions take part in hearing-related processing, in the understanding of the meaning of words and objects, and in linking memory with emotion through their connections to the amygdala and limbic system.
Because it is one of the first cortical branches, it may arise early from the main trunk of the middle cerebral artery, and it is an important landmark in surgery of the lateral sulcus, for example in the clipping of aneurysms at the middle cerebral bifurcation. Blockage of this branch alone gives a small territorial stroke in the anterior temporal lobe.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- A cortical branch of the middle cerebral artery, leaving the front part of the lateral sulcus.
- Ends in
- Ends in branches over the anterior superior, middle and inferior temporal gyri and the temporal pole.
- Supplies
- Supplies the cortex and underlying white matter of the anterior lateral temporal lobe.
Anthromica
See the anterior temporal branch where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
