Posterior cerebral artery

The posterior cerebral artery (Latin for, posterior brain artery ', abbreviated PCA posterior cerebral artery from the English ), called with animals caudal cerebral artery, is one of the three main arterial vessels of the brain. It arises from the division of the unpaired basilar artery in the circle of Willis and forms with the middle cerebral artery on both sides of an anastomosis, the posterior communicating artery, from.

At the posterior cerebral artery segments P1 -P4 are distinguished:

• P1: The präkommunikale segment passes through the interpeduncular cisterna.
• P2: The postkommunikale segment runs through the cisterna ambiens.
• P3: quadrigeminales segment
• P4: terminal segment

Coverage area

The posterior cerebral artery runs behind the diencephalon and supplies the occipital lobe, the basal surface of the temporal lobe, the hippocampus, the thalamus, the posterior portions of the hypothalamus and the choroid plexus of the lateral ventricles.

Failure symptoms

The closure of the posterior cerebral artery typically leads to failure of the visual field the opposite side ( homonymous hemianopia ). The bilateral obliteration of the posterior cerebral artery leading to cortical blindness. A very deep, bilateral occlusion ( Basilarisspitzensyndrom ) has an additional bithalamischen infarction with impaired consciousness result.