• Stephen Monteith, Oded Goren, Ragu Sampath, Eric Lehr, Akshal Patel, Paul J Choi, Joe Iwanaga, Marios Loukas, and R Shane Tubbs.
• Swedish Neuroscience Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA.
• World Neurosurg. 2018 Apr 1; 112: e298-e301.

BackgroundA few options of extracranial donor vessels exist for use in intracranial vascular bypass procedures. To our knowledge, the use of an internal thoracic artery for cerebral revascularization has not been studied previously. Hence, this cadaveric feasibility study was performed.MethodsThe internal thoracic artery was dissected in 5 adult cadaveric specimens. The proximal diameter, distal diameter, and length of the vessel were measured and recorded. The artery was then transected distally at the seventh intercostal space and transposed cranially, through a pterional craniotomy opening to reach the middle cerebral artery at the skull base.ResultsThe mean diameter of the internal thoracic artery at its proximal end was 3.5 mm and at its distal end was 2 mm. The average length of the vessel was 31 cm. There was no statistical difference between the measurements recorded from different sides or sexes. In each specimen, an internal thoracic artery was dissected, rotated superiorly, and advanced subcutaneously behind the ear to reach the middle cerebral artery at the skull base without difficulty and remained tensionless at the site of anastomosis.ConclusionsIn this cadaveric study, we demonstrated the suitability of the internal thoracic artery in use as a donor vessel for a single site anastomosis in a high-flow cerebral bypass procedure.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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