Parieto-occipital artery
Arteria paritooccipitale
A cortical branch of the medial occipital artery that runs in the parieto-occipital sulcus on the medial surface of the hemisphere.
At a glance
- English
- Parieto-occipital artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria paritooccipitale
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Head
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the parieto-occipital artery
The parieto-occipital artery is one of the two main terminal branches of the medial occipital artery, which is itself a cortical branch of the posterior cerebral artery. It belongs to the posterior circulation of the brain, supplied ultimately by the vertebral and basilar arteries.
After the posterior cerebral artery has curved round the midbrain onto the medial surface of the hemisphere, the medial occipital artery divides, usually near the front of the calcarine sulcus, into the calcarine artery and the parieto-occipital artery. The parieto-occipital branch then climbs upwards and backwards in the depths of the parieto-occipital sulcus, the deep cleft on the medial surface that separates the parietal lobe in front from the occipital lobe behind.
Its territory is the upper part of the cuneus, the wedge of occipital cortex between the parieto-occipital and calcarine sulci, and the back part of the precuneus on the medial parietal surface. Its branches may reach over the upper border of the hemisphere onto a narrow strip of the lateral surface. At the edges of this area it meets terminal twigs of the pericallosal branch of the anterior cerebral artery, forming a watershed between the anterior and posterior circulations.
Because the upper cuneus contains the part of the primary visual cortex above the calcarine sulcus, loss of flow in this artery can cause a defect in the lower part of the opposite visual field, a lower quadrantanopia, often combined with disturbance of spatial attention from involvement of the precuneus. On angiography it is an easy landmark, since its course outlines the parieto-occipital sulcus. Damage confined to it is uncommon; it is usually involved with the rest of the posterior cerebral territory.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- The medial occipital artery, a terminal cortical branch of the posterior cerebral artery.
- Ends in
- Ends in cortical branches in the parieto-occipital sulcus, reaching the upper border of the hemisphere.
- Supplies
- Supplies the upper cuneus and the posterior precuneus on the medial surface of the hemisphere.
Anthromica
See the parieto-occipital artery 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.
