The recurrent artery of Heubner, Heubner's artery or distal medial striate artery is a branch of the

anterior cerebral artery The anterior cerebral artery (ACA) is one of a pair of cerebral arteries that supplies oxygenated blood to most midline portions of the frontal lobes and superior medial parietal lobes of the brain. The two anterior cerebral arteries arise from th ...

. It supplies the head of the

caudate nucleus The caudate nucleus is one of the structures that make up the corpus striatum, which is part of the basal ganglia in the human brain. Although the caudate nucleus has long been associated with motor processes because of its relation to Parkinso ...

and adjacent part of the anterior limb of

internal capsule The internal capsule is a paired white matter structure, as a two-way nerve tract, tract, carrying afferent nerve fiber, ascending and efferent nerve fiber, descending axon, fibers, to and from the cerebral cortex. The internal capsule is situate ...

, olfactory regions, and parts of the

putamen The putamen (; from Latin, meaning "nutshell") is a subcortical nucleus (neuroanatomy), nucleus with a rounded structure, in the basal ganglia nuclear group. It is located at the base of the forebrain and above the midbrain. The putamen and c ...

and

septal nuclei The septal area (medial olfactory area), consisting of the lateral septum and medial septum, is an area in the lower, posterior part of the medial surface of the frontal lobe, and refers to the nearby septum pellucidum. The septal nuclei are loca ...

. It is named after the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

paediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their yout ...

Otto Heubner Johann Otto Leonhard Heubner (January 21, 1843 – October 17, 1926) was a German internist and pediatrician who was a native of Mühltroff. He studied medicine at the University of Leipzig, and in 1867 became an assistant to Carl Reinhold Aug ...

Structure

The recurrent artery of Heubner is a branch of the

. It has a

mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

diameter of 0.8 mm, and a mean length of 2.4 cm. It is also known together with the lenticulostriate arteries as a striate artery. The lenticulostriate arteries arise from the

middle cerebral artery The middle cerebral artery (MCA) is one of the three major paired cerebral artery, cerebral arteries that supply blood to the cerebrum. The MCA arises from the internal carotid artery and continues into the lateral sulcus where it then branches an ...

Variation

The recurrent artery of Heubner usually arises from the A1-A2 junction (between 44% and 62% of the time), but may arise from the proximal A2 segment (between 23% and 43%), or more rarely from the A1 segment (maybe up to 14% of the time). The recurrent artery of Heubner has a very variable diameter and length. It varies in width from 0.2 mm to 1.3 mm. It varies in length between 0.9 cm and 3.8 cm.

Function

The recurrent artery of Heubner supplies the anteromedial section of the

and the anterioinferior section of the

, as well as parts of the

and

Clinical significance

Infarction of the artery may brachiofacial

hemiparesis Hemiparesis, also called unilateral paresis, is the weakness of one entire side of the body (''wikt:hemi-#Prefix, hemi-'' means "half"). Hemiplegia, in its most severe form, is the complete paralysis of one entire side of the body. Either hemipar ...

due to ischemia of the anterior limb of internal capsule. More proximal portions of the artery may cause spastic

paraparesis Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural ...

and sensory loss contralateral to the lesioned side.

Urinary incontinence Urinary incontinence (UI), also known as involuntary urination, is any uncontrolled leakage of urine. It is a common and distressing problem, which may have a significant effect on quality of life. Urinary incontinence is common in older women ...

and gait apraxia may also occur. Occlusive damage to Heubner's artery may also present with contralateral grip reflex issues, and symptoms of

frontal lobe disorder Frontal lobe disorder, also frontal lobe syndrome, is an impairment of the frontal lobe of the brain due to disease or frontal lobe injury. The frontal lobe plays a key role in executive functions such as motivation, planning, social behaviour, a ...

. Contralateral gaze preference with or without transcortical motor aphasia may present in instances where the ''left'' hemisphere is affected in this type of occlusion.

History

The recurrent artery of Heubner is named after the

References

Arteries of the head and neck Cerebrum {{Arteries of head and neck