Vol. 129 No. 1 (2025)
Original Article

Middle cerebral artery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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  • Nicole de Palma Gomes,
  • Rubén David Zuniga dos Reis,
  • Rafael Bobato Licciardi,
  • Esther Araujo Dal Fabbro,
  • Paulo Henrique Pires de Aguiar
Nicole de Palma Gomes
Faculty of Medicine of ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil
Rubén David Zuniga dos Reis
Faculty of Medicine of ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil
Rafael Bobato Licciardi
Faculty of Medicine of ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil
Esther Araujo Dal Fabbro
Faculty of Medicine of ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil
Paulo Henrique Pires de Aguiar
Department of Morphophysiology, Faculty of Medicine of ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ijae-16050

Published 2025-07-10

Keywords

  • middle cerebral artery,
  • neuroanatomy,
  • cerebral arteries,
  • cerebral arterial diseases,
  • cerebrovascular disorders

How to Cite

de Palma Gomes, N., Zuniga dos Reis, R. D., Bobato Licciardi, R., Araujo Dal Fabbro, E., & Pires de Aguiar, P. H. (2025). Middle cerebral artery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, 129(1), 67–74. https://doi.org/10.36253/ijae-16050

Copyright (c) 2025 Nicole de Palma Gomes, Rubén David Zuniga dos Reis, Rafael Bobato Licciardi, Esther Araujo Dal Fabbro, Paulo Henrique Pires de Aguiar

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The middle cerebral artery is the largest and most intricate artery in the brain, making a thorough understanding of its anatomical variations and anomalies crucial. Despite its importance, considerable debate surrounds the classification of these variations, the existence of anomalies, and their prevalence. This study seeks to elucidate the prevalence of anatomical variations and anomalies in the middle cerebral artery and, as a secondary objective, to examine their correlation with clinically significant events, such as aneurysms. Methods: A systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines, using databases such as PubMed, Embase, BVS, and Cochrane. Relevant terms from MeSH, DeCS, and Emtree were used alongside the “Open Grey” platform. A meta-analysis was carried out to determine the overall prevalence of anomalies, along with a subgroup analysis based on the methods used for the inspection and detection of arterial anomalies. Results: The overall prevalence of anomalies was found to be 1.4%. Through subgroup analysis, studies utilizing colored material injection revealed an almost-7 fold higher prevalence of anomalies than imaging techniques studies, and this was statistically significant (3.9% vs 0.5%, p <0.01). Conclusion: Imaging techniques may not adequately detect all anatomical variations of the middle cerebral artery. Longitudinal observational studies are necessary for better understanding of our findings.

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