Sphenoidal artery: review of the literature and analysis of a dissected arterially injected fetal orbit.

Review of the literature dealing with the sphenoidal artery shows inconsistent nomenclature and conflicting descriptions of its anastomotic connections, and varying evolutionary and embryologic theories. Analysis of the dissected fetal skull base indicates that the sphenoidal artery is not a distinct artery but just a middle meningeal orbital arterial branch, an important component of the complex and dangerous arterial anastomoses of the human orbitocranial region.