Superior cerebellar artery

At a glance

English

Superior cerebellar artery

Latin (TA2)

Arteria cerebelli superior

System

Artery

Region

Head

Side

Paired, left and right

About the superior cerebellar artery

The superior cerebellar artery is one of the three paired arteries of the cerebellum. It leaves the basilar artery close to its upper end, just below the bifurcation into the posterior cerebral arteries. The oculomotor nerve emerges between the two vessels, so the nerve lies above the superior cerebellar artery and below the posterior cerebral artery.

From its origin it curves laterally and backwards around the pons and the cerebral peduncle of the midbrain, keeping close to the trochlear nerve and lying just beneath the free edge of the tentorium cerebelli. On the top of the cerebellum it breaks up into branches that spread through the pia and link up with branches of the anterior inferior and posterior inferior cerebellar arteries.

It supplies the upper surface of the cerebellar hemispheres and vermis, the deep cerebellar nuclei including the dentate nucleus, and the superior and middle cerebellar peduncles. It also gives branches to the midbrain, including the tectum and the lateral part of the cerebral peduncle, the superior medullary velum, the pineal region and the tela choroidea of the third ventricle, as well as the region between the peduncles.

One clinical problem is its contact with the trigeminal nerve. In many people with trigeminal neuralgia, a loop of this artery presses on the root of the trigeminal nerve where it enters the pons, causing bouts of severe stabbing facial pain in the area the nerve supplies. Surgeons can treat this by microvascular decompression, separating the artery from the nerve with a small pad. Contact is also found in people without symptoms, so it is not the whole explanation. Blockage of the artery causes a cerebellar stroke, with headache, vertigo, unsteadiness and clumsiness of the limbs on the same side.

Course and supply

Arises from

The basilar artery, just below its terminal bifurcation.

Ends in

Divides over the top of the cerebellum into branches that anastomose with the inferior cerebellar arteries.

Supplies

Supplies the upper cerebellum and vermis, the deep cerebellar nuclei, the superior and middle cerebellar peduncles, the superior medullary velum and parts of the midbrain.