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Topic

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Maxillary artery

The maxillary artery is a key terminal branch of the external carotid artery, supplying deep facial structures, including the maxilla, mandible, nasal cavity, palate, and portions of the dura mater. It travels deep to the ramus of the mandible, passing through the infratemporal and pterygopalatine fossae, and gives rise to several important branches that vascularize the deep face and intracranial structures. Detailed knowledge of its anatomy and imaging characteristics is essential for surgical planning, interventional radiology, and diagnosing vascular pathologies.

Synonyms

  • Internal maxillary artery

  • Arteria maxillaris (Latin)

  • Deep facial artery (less common)

Function

  • Major arterial supply to the deep structures of the face, jaws, nasal cavity, palate, and dura mater

  • Provides branches to the teeth, muscles of mastication, nasal mucosa, and meninges

  • Supports collateral blood flow in case of occlusion of other head and neck arteries

  • Clinical relevance in epistaxis (posterior nosebleeds), maxillofacial trauma, and head/neck tumors

MRI Appearance

  • T1-weighted images:

    • Appears as a signal void ("flow void") due to rapid blood flow within the vessel

    • Adjacent fat in the infratemporal fossa is hyperintense, making the artery stand out as a dark tubular structure

  • T2-weighted images:

    • Also appears as a flow void (low signal), maintaining its tubular shape among high-signal soft tissues

    • Surrounding vascular plexuses and tissues may appear hyperintense

  • STIR (Short Tau Inversion Recovery):

    • Maxillary artery remains a low-signal flow void

    • Useful for differentiating vessel from surrounding edema or fat suppression artifacts

  • TOF (Time-of-Flight) MR Angiography:

    • The artery is well-visualized as a high-signal structure

    • Excellent for mapping its course and detecting stenosis, aneurysm, or vascular malformations

CT Appearance

  • Non-contrast CT:

    • The artery itself is not directly visualized

    • May be identified indirectly as a small round/oval soft tissue density within the pterygopalatine or infratemporal fossae

  • CT Angiography (CTA):

    • Maxillary artery and its branches are clearly seen as high-attenuation (bright) structures after contrast injection

MRI images

Maxillary artery axial image

MRI images

Maxillary artery coronal t2 image