The cavernous carotid inferolateral trunk and persistent primitive maxillary arteries: analysis of dissected arterially injected fetal specimens and high-resolution micro-CT of the dog's anastomotic arteries.

This investigation provides the only photographs in the literature of dissected human fetal cavernous carotid inferolateral trunks. A persistent primitive maxillary artery was not present in the dissected specimens and is a non-existent structure, likely a previously misidentified carotid inferolateral trunk. High-resolution micro-CT images of the dog visualized arteries that are homologous to segments of the human cavernous carotid inferolateral trunk artery.